Oklahoma City-based Crusader Energy Group Inc. began operating as a publicly held independent on Friday following completion of its merger with Dallas-based Westside Energy Corp.

No financial details were issued, but the transaction, completed Thursday, is valued at about $956 million in stock.

Dallas-based Westside, which had been publicly traded, and Crusader, which had been private, announced their merger in January (see Daily GPI, Jan. 3). The merger brought together assets that at the end of 2007 had a net proved reserve base of more than 150 Bcfe, 80% weighted to natural gas, with an estimated reserve life of 15.8 years. Combined production at year-end 2007 was more than 26,000 Mcfe/d, 75% natural gas. Its leasehold is more than 765,000 gross acres (316,000 net), with 92% undeveloped.

At the end of March, Westside said it owned 81,431 gross (66,435 net) acres in the Barnett Shale, with 77,161 gross (65,208 net) undeveloped. Net production was estimated at 5.23 MMcfe/d. Westside also had working interests in 75 gross (20.6 net) producing wells with operations in Montague, Johnson and Hill counties, TX. Crusader has operated primarily in several U.S. basins, including the Anadarko, Delaware and Val Verde, with most of its operations in the Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth Basin. It also has operations in the Bakken Shale in the Williston Basin.

“The business combination provides Crusader an attractive route to becoming a publicly traded company and enhanced access to the public capital markets to support future growth,” said Crusader Chairman Robert J. Raymond.

CEO David D. Le Norman noted that the business combination would provide Crusader “additional opportunities to transfer our horizontal drilling expertise and horizontal multi-stage, isolation stimulation completion assemblies to the Barnett Shale, Bakken Shale, Cleveland sands and other unconventional reservoirs.”

Crusader was to have a total of 198.1 million shares outstanding at close. In connection with the business combination, 171.7 million shares have been issued to the following entities: Knight Energy Group I Holding Co. LLC received 100.1 million shares; Knight Energy Group II Holding Co. LLC received 53.2 million shares; Hawk Energy Fund I Holding Co. LLC received 14.7 million shares; and RCH Energy Opportunity Fund I, LP received 3.7 million shares, plus $501,000 in cash to three other parties to the contribution agreement. None of the shares issued were registered or may be sold or transferred until the six-month anniversary of the business combination’s completion.

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