Houston explorer Sheridan Production Partners LLC has raised $1.8 billion of new equity commitments that it plans to use to complement its portfolio of assets in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. Sheridan Production Partners II, the second private offering of limited partner interests, was oversubscribed and reached its hard cap, company officials said. Since its formation in 2006 by Sheridan Management and Warburg Pincus, the partnership said it has raised more than $3 billion in equity through private placements of its two investment vehicles (see NGI, Oct. 5, 2009; Aug. 13, 2007).

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is paying $200 million cash for the Yellow Rose and Bluebonnet assets in the Eagle Ford Shale of Antares Energy Ltd. and partner San Isidro Development Co., Antares said. The company is buying 100% of 23,180 net oil and natural gas leasehold acres in McMullen County, TX, at a price representing $8,628/acre. Antares has retained an interest in the Eagle Ford with more than 8,900 acres in the high-yield condensate region with its operating partner Petrohawk Energy Corp.

ConocoPhillips said the first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Qatargas 3 (QG3) joint venture, in which it has a 30% stake, was shipped Nov. 25 from Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, bound for the Canaport LNG Terminal in Saint John, NB. The QG3 venture was formed in 2005 and is owned by ConocoPhillips (30%), Qatar Petroleum (68.5%) and Mitsui (1.5%).

Enstor Inc. is accepting binding bids for firm storage capacity at its four U.S. facilities — Caledonia, Freebird, Katy Storage Hub and Grama Ridge — through Dec. 15. Terms of one to five years are available for service beginning April 1, 2011. For more information contact Kay Atchison at (281) 374-3075, or at kay.atchison@enstorinc.com.

The U.S. Coast Guard responded last Wednesday to a rig fire in Bayou Perot, about 20 miles south of New Orleans in inland waters. Three people were reported injured on the rig, which was working on an inactive natural gas well. There were no reports of pollution, the Coast Guard said. Watchstanders at the Marine Safety Unit in Houma, LA, received a call about 10 a.m. CST from Louisiana Delta Oil that there had been a fire aboard a Grosse Tete workover rig. The fire went out on its own.

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