Acquisition

Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. announced Monday that it has completed the acquisition of Forest Oil Corp.’s and Forest Alaska Holding’s Alaska oil and gas properties for $400 million, 10 million shares of Pacific Energy common stock and a seven-year seller note to Forest with a net present value of approximately $30 million.

Constellation Energy subsidiary Constellation NewEnergy Gas Division (CNE Gas) has completed the acquisition of Cornerstone Energy Inc., creating one of the nation’s largest natural gas marketing companies.

Dominion Resources’ agreement to sell two natural gas utilities to Equitable Resources Inc. has been extended until at least Sept. 1 to allow time for a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenge to part of the deal to be sorted out, the companies said Thursday.

Constellation Energy subsidiary Constellation NewEnergy Gas Division (CNE Gas) has completed the acquisition of Cornerstone Energy Inc., creating one of the nation’s largest natural gas marketing companies.

MDU Resources Group Inc. and Cascade Natural Gas Corp. have received the last regulatory approval needed for MDU’s acquisition of Cascade. The deal is expected to close in early July.

Two days after IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) resubmitted an enhanced acquisition bid for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) on Thursday added value to its own bid for the 159-year-old global derivative exchange. As a result, CBOT’s board of directors announced that ICE’s new bid was not superior to the just revised CME offer. The real test will come July 9 when CBOT’s members and shareholders will get to vote on the proposed merger with CME.

Forest Oil Corp. and The Houston Exploration Co. (THX) stockholders separately have approved a merger agreement between the two companies (see Daily GPI, Jan. 9). On a pro forma basis, the acquisition will give Forest a total estimated proved reserves base of 2.0 Tcfe, of which about 69% would be classified as proved developed and approximately 70% would be natural gas. Denver-based Forest management and its board of directors will continue in their current positions, and it is anticipated that Forest will create a new business unit to be located in Houston. Under the terms of the agreement, THX stockholders will receive total consideration equal to 0.84 shares of Forest common stock and $26.25 in cash for each outstanding share of THX common stock, which represents $60.02/share to be received by THX stockholders based on the average closing price of Forest shares during the 10-day valuation period specified in the merger agreement. About 18.5 million of THX outstanding total shares, or 65.2%, voted to approve the transaction. Following the closing, Forest stockholders will own 73% of the combined company; THX stockholders will own 27%.

ExxonMobil Corp. has a bundle of natural gas-heavy properties in Texas and Canada up for sale, according to Indigopool.com, Schlumberger’s acquisition and divestiture website.

ExxonMobil Corp. has a bundle of natural gas-heavy properties in Texas and Canada up for sale, according to Indigopool.com, Schlumberger’s acquisition and divestiture website.