Buying

Ontario-based Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (APUC) unit Liberty Energy Utilities Co. is buying Granite State Electric Co. and EnergyNorth Natural Gas Inc. from National Grid USA for $285 million, APUC said last Thursday.

Ontario-based Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (APUC) unit Liberty Energy Utilities Co. is buying Granite State Electric Co. and EnergyNorth Natural Gas Inc. from National Grid USA for $285 million, APUC said Thursday.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s continued acquisitiveness this year has given the producer an even bigger bag of domestic shale prospects to develop, but the buying spree and questions about its accounting practices have drawn a “sell” recommendation from one veteran analyst.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s continued acquisitiveness this year has given the producer an even bigger bag of domestic shale prospects to develop, but the buying spree, plus questions about its accounting practices, has drawn a “sell” recommendation from one veteran analyst.

Newfield Exploration Co. late Monday said it has agreed to buy 50,000 net acres in the Marcellus Shale from EOG Resources Inc. in a transaction valued at $405 million.

Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP is buying gas gathering systems and related facilities primarily in Wheeler and Hemphill counties in the Texas Panhandle from CenterPoint Energy Field Services Inc. for $27.5 million, the partnership said Monday.

The trend of near-flat pricing earlier this week continued Thursday. Any remaining storage injection buying and the previous day’s minuscule gain of 1.1 cent by November futures were largely offset by mild weather virtually everywhere outside parts of the desert Southwest and by the continuing lack of any tropical storm threat to Gulf of Mexico production.

Targa Resources Partners LP said it is buying a stake in a Gulf of Mexico region gas gathering and processing business from its parent, Targa Resources Inc., for about $167.5 million.

Western Gas Partners LP is buying the Wattenberg gathering system and related assets in the Denver-Julesberg Basin of northeastern Colorado from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for consideration of $498 million, the partnership said last week, noting that the acquisition gives it an opportunity to serve liquids-rich gas production in the basin.