Houston-based ZaZa Energy LLC has struck a deal to sell about 10,300 acres in Fayette, Gonzalez and Lavaca counties in Texas for about $28.8 million to a unit of Sanchez Energy after a deal fell through with another buyer that was unable to fund and close a transaction, parent ZaZa Energy Corp. said. ZaZa calls the acreage its Moulton properties. In March, ZaZa announced two pending Moulton sales: one for $43.3 million for 10,000 acres and another for the remainder of its Moulton properties for $9.2 million (see Shale Daily, March 26). “Given the current landscape, we believe that transacting at this metric was the best and most prudent action for the company at this time,” ZaZa CEO Todd Brooks said of the latest deal. “We remain focused on monetizing select Eagle Ford assets in order to improve our balance sheet, and we are currently pursuing other joint ventures in the area. In the Eaglebine, our joint venture is progressing as planned, and we anticipate timely drilling of the first three wells as part of the agreement [see Shale Daily, April 8].” ZaZa has received a down payment of $1.4 million for the Moulton properties; closing of the sale is expected by July 31.

Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP has begun operations at its 60 MMcf/d cryogenic Wheeler gas processing facility in Wheeler County, TX, in the heart of the Granite Wash play. The Wheeler Plant, which includes the associated Mills Ranch compressor station, is on a 50-acre site owned by Eagle Rock in the center of the partnership’s existing high-pressure gathering system near multiple residue gas pipeline outlets. The supporting infrastructure and plant site were designed to accommodate one or more additional expansions. With the completion of the Wheeler Plant, Eagle Rock will have more than 500 MMcf/d of high-efficiency cryogenic processing capacity serving the Granite Wash.