Houston Exploration Co. said Friday it has completed its purchase of producing properties in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) from Orca Energy LP and BP Exploration & Production Inc. The combined purchase price of the properties was $145 million for 79 Bcfe. The assets are more than 80% natural gas and encompass 14 fields that are near existing operations in the GOM, the company said. Houston Exploration funded the transactions with a combination of cash on hand at the time of closing and debt from its revolving bank credit facility. In addition, as a result of the acquisitions, the company’s banking group has increased the available borrowing capacity for the organization to $400 million from $340 million.

Construction is underway on Anadarko Petroleum Corp.‘s LNG receiving terminal at Bear Head on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.. Mike Bridges, President, Anadarko Canada was assisted in the ground-breaking ceremony Thursday by community and government leaders from the Halifax and Cape Breton regions. The $450 million project at Point Tupper, NS with a projected sendout of 1 Bcf/d is planned for operation by November 2007. Further expansion of the facility at a later date is expected to boost sendout capacity to 1.5 Bcf/d. The facilities would deliver gas into the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline. Anadarko purchased the LNG terminal project from a private developer, Access Northeast Energy Inc. (ANEI), in August (see Daily GPI, Aug. 13). Company officials said at the time that the project would fit with Anadarko’s E&P operations in Algeria and Qatar, two of the world’s top LNG exporting countries.

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