GE Energy Financial Services has partnered with two operators to acquire $154 million in oil and natural gas reserves in western Oklahoma and the Austin Chalk trend of East Texas.

In partnership with Bays Exploration Inc., the GE unit paid $79 million for a package of reserves in western Oklahoma. In addition, Energy Financial Services plans to invest up to $60 million for the development of the reserves. In the second transaction, the GE unit partnered with Southern Bay Energy, a subsidiary of GeoResources Inc., to acquire $75 million worth of assets in the Austin Chalk trend. GE plans to invest an additional $27 million to develop these properties.

An affiliate of GE Energy Financial Services holds limited partnership interests in the two separate partnerships, with Bays Exploration and an affiliate of Southern Bay Energy serving as general partners and operators of the two entities. Bays Exploration is a subsidiary of Bays Enterprises Inc., an exploration and production company with offices in Oklahoma City and Boerne, TX. Houston-based GeoResources and its subsidiaries and affiliates own and operate properties in the Gulf Coast, Permian Basin, Rocky Mountains and Williston Basin.

Since 1991, the oil and gas unit of GE Energy Financial Services has provided $2.75 billion in partnership equity for its independent oil and gas partner-operators in the United States. The unit’s partnership investments produce an estimated 100 MMcf/d of natural gas and 15,000 b/d of oil.

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