Agreeing

Independent Tom Brown Inc. is stocking up on natural gas reserves after agreeing to merge with privately held Matador Petroleum Corp. The transaction will increase the Denver-based independent’s reserves by 37% to 1 Tcfe. Matador, a privately held exploration and production company, is active primarily in the East Texas Basin and the Permian Basin of southeastern New Mexico and West Texas. It produced 61 MMcfe/d in the first quarter and holds proved reserves estimated to be 36% undeveloped, with 86% natural gas. The reserve life is 12 years. Additionally, Matador holds about 56,000 net developed ares and 111,000 net undeveloped acres. Tom Brown said the merger would be accretive to earnings and cash flow this year. The agreement already has been approved by both of the companies’ boards, and the deal is expected to close before the end of June. Under the terms of the definitive merger agreement, Matador shareholders will receive $17.53 per share and Tom Brown will assume $105 million of net debt. The transaction is subject to approval by the holders of two-thirds of Matador’s outstanding stock and other customary conditions. In connection with the execution of the merger agreement, Matador shareholders, who own 43% of Matador’s outstanding shares, have agreed to vote in favor of the transaction. Tom Brown said it would fund the acquisition initially with bank debt , but it also is evaluating other alternatives, including issuing equity as well as debt placement in private markets.

Independent Tom Brown Inc. is stocking up on natural gas reserves after agreeing to merge with privately held Matador Petroleum Corp. on Wednesday. The transaction will increase the Denver-based independent’s reserves by 37% to 1 Tcfe.

Williams has pulled up its 40-year stake in the oil business to focus on natural gas production, processing and transportation after agreeing to sell its 54.6% stake in Williams Energy Partners LP (WEG) to a group of private equity firms. Williams will receive $512 million in cash, and the agreement also will remove $570 million of the partnership’s debt from Williams’ balance sheet.

Williams has pulled up its 40-year stake in the oil business to focus on natural gas production, processing and transportation after agreeing to sell its 54.6% stake in Williams Energy Partners LP (WEG) to a group of private equity firms. Williams will receive $512 million in cash, and the agreement also will remove $570 million of the partnership’s debt from Williams’ balance sheet.

Dynegy Inc. is out of the communications business, after agreeing to sell its three-year-old North American communications division to an affiliate of 360networks Corp., a data telecommunications services company. Under the terms of the agreement, 360networks will acquire Dynegy’s entire North American communications operations, including a 16,000-mile high-capacity broadband network that has access points in 44 U.S. cities. No financial details were disclosed.

Five major energy companies are the majority of the private-sector firms signing a consent decree with California state officials Thursday to clean up a 38-acre toxic waste site in Huntington Beach, CA, that was abandoned nearly 20 years ago and has sat vacant. Gov. Gray Davis announced the agreement, calling it a “significant achievement.”

Piedmont Natural Gas boosted its customer service base in North Carolina, by agreeing to a two-part deal on Thursday that includes the stock purchase of North Carolina Natural Gas (NCNG), a distribution subsidiary of Progress Energy, and Progress Energy’s investment in EasternNC, a gas delivery service, for approximately $425 million in cash. The acquisition includes the 176,000 NCNG residential, commercial and industrial natural gas customers in eastern and southern North Carolina, giving Piedmont more than 454,000 customers in the state, and a total of 901,000 customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

UK-based Centrica plc is rounding up more than 850,000 Texas customers after agreeing to purchase two retail electric providers (REPs) of American Electric Power (AEP). The deal, which includes power supply and service agreements, adds customers of Corpus Christi-based CPL Retail Energy and WTU Retail Energy, based in Abilene. When the transaction is completed, Centrica will have nearly 4.5 million customers in Canada and the United States, making it the largest deregulated energy services company in North America.

Agreeing that Georgia’s natural gas deregulation program is flawed but not foundering, a Blue Ribbon Natural Gas Task Force empowered by Gov. Roy Barnes recommended last week that the state not give up on the more than three year-old initiative. Instead, the group decided on a list of proposals to reform the program, including the reinstitution of a single regulated marketer.