Agreed

ExxonMobil Corp. agreed Wednesday to buy Calgary’s Celtic Exploration Ltd., a producer with a basket of natural gas-rich unconventional property in the Montney and Duvernay shales, for an estimated US$3.14 billion, including debt. The deal has a cash value of about $2.6 billion.

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) and Harvest Pipeline Co. have tentatively agreed to develop the capability to ship Utica Shale production from eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania by barge on the Ohio River.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has called on FERC to consider proposed and existing natural gas pipeline projects for transporting Marcellus shale gas to New York as alternatives to the proposed Constitution Pipeline.

Marathon Petroleum Corp. agreed to pay $598 million plus inventories estimated at $1.2 billion for BP plc’s 451,000 b/d Texas City, TX, refinery, three instrastate natural gas liquids pipelines originating at the refinery, an allocation of BP’s Colonial Pipeline Co. shipper history, four terminals, retail marketing contract assignments for about 1,200 branded sites and a 1,040 MW cogeneration facility. The agreement contains an earnout provision under which Marathon could pay up to an additional $700 million over six years, subject to certain conditions. The acquisition is expected to be funded with cash on hand and is anticipated to close early in 2013. The deal continues BP’s plan to sell assets to shore up its share price and help fund a $20 billion trust fund set up following the April 2010 Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) (see Daily GPI, Oct. 26, 2011). Last month Plains Exploration & Production Co. said it would pay BP $5.55 billion for deepwater GOM oil and gas properties (see Daily GPI, Sept. 11).

Expanding its presence in the Bakken Shale region, Global Partners LP has agreed to acquire a 60% membership interest in Basin Transload LLC, which operates two transloading facilities in North Dakota with a combined rail loading capacity of 160,000 b/d.

EPL Oil & Gas Inc. last week agreed to pay $550 million to a unit of Hilcorp Energy Co. for a package of shallow water Gulf of Mexico (GOM) shelf oil and natural gas interests. W&T Offshore Inc. also built it GOM portfolio last week, after agreeing to pay $228 million to acquire all of Newfield Exploration Co.’s remaining properties in the GOM, a 78-block inventory that covers more than 430,000 gross acres.

W&T Offshore Inc. agreed Tuesday to spend $228 million to acquire all of Newfield Exploration Co.’s remaining Gulf of Mexico (GOM) properties, which include 65 deepwater blocks. The 78-block inventory covers more than 430,000 gross acres.

Summit Midstream Partners LLC and Energy Transfer Partners LP unit La Grange Acquisition LP have agreed for Summit to acquire ETC Canyon Pipeline LLC for $207 million. Canyon gathers and processes gas in the Piceance and Uinta basins in Colorado and Utah. The gathering and processing system consists of more than 1,600 miles of pipeline, 44,000 hp of compression, processing assets with capacity of 97 MMcf/d, and two natural gas liquids injection stations. The deal is expected to close during the fourth quarter subject to regulatory approvals and conditions.

Former TransCanada Corp. CEO Hal Kvisle was tapped last week to take over at Talisman Energy Inc. after CEO John A. Manzoni agreed to step down. The former BP plc executive, had led the company for the past five years (see NGI, June 4, 2007).