Acquisition

Baker Hughes and Schlumberger plan to create a new seismic venture called Western GECO that would combine and own the seismic acquisition assets, data processing assets, and multi-client seismic libraries and other assets of their existing subsidiaries Western Geophysical and GECO-Prakla. The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of the year and is subject to regulatory approvals.

In an acquisition that CEO Jack E. Wheeler calls “very strategicand synergistic,” the Aspen Group Resources Corp. has acquired 100%of Old Dominion Oil Corp.’s Anadarko Basin producing wells, leases,property and equipment, of which about 90% are natural gasreserves, in an all-cash transaction. Terms of the transaction werenot disclosed.

Phillips Petroleum Co. completed its acquisition of ARCO’s Alaskanbusinesses and gained Federal Trade Commission approval of the deal,which became effective retroactive to Jan. 1. The deal was announcedin March (see Daily GPI, March 17).

Oneok Inc. closed on the acquisition of a wide range ofMidcontinent gas assets from Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) lastWednesday after FERC ruled that the operations included in the salewere exempt from the terms of a recent consent agreement, whichimposed a number of restrictions on KMI companies for affiliateviolations [IN00-1]. This transaction, together with Oneok’spurchase of midstream assets from Dynegy Inc. last month, makes thecompany one of the biggest players in the Midcontinent gas market.

El Paso Energy Corp. completed its acquisition of Crystal GasStorage Inc. of Shreveport, LA. Each holder of Crystal Gas Storagecommon stock received $57 per share in cash in a deal worth $224.6million. “The Crystal assets provide the flexibility, highdeliverability, and multiple pipeline interconnects necessary tomeet the gas supply demands of new plants in the competitive powermarket,” said El Paso CEO William A. Wise.

El Paso Energy Corp. completed its acquisition of Crystal GasStorage Inc. of Shreveport, LA. Each holder of Crystal Gas Storagecommon stock received $57 per share in cash. The deal is worth$224.6 million.

The FERC Wednesday approved the acquisition of MidAmericanEnergy Holdings Co. by an investor group made up of Inc., Omahabusinessman Walter Scott, and David L. Sokol, MidAmerican CEO.MidAmerican filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory CommissionNov. 8. On Nov. 29, MidAmerican received early termination of thewaiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust ImprovementAct after filing Nov. 12. The transaction is still subject toMidAmerican shareholder approval as well as clearance by the IowaUtilities Board, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the IllinoisCommerce Commission. Closing is expected in the first quarter.

Enterprise Products Partners LP of Houston completed itsacquisition of Tejas Natural Gas Liquids LLC from Shell Oilaffiliate Tejas Energy LLC and made a long-term gas processingagreement with Shell for its Gulf of Mexico production. As a resultof the deal, Tejas Energy now owns 17.6% of Enterprise. The dealforms a fully integrated Gulf Coast NGL processing, fractionation,storage, transportation and marketing business.

Energy consulting company Skipping Stone Inc. is adding acommunications systems notch to its bow with the acquisition ofTransCapacity Inc., an established provider of software and systemsto automate pipeline transportation.