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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).

Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. closed a previously announced $243 million sale of approximately 85% of Bakken and Three Forks shale assets in the Williston Basin held by its Black Hills Exploration & Production Inc. (see Shale Daily, Aug. 27). The sale was effective July 1. CEO David Emery said the sale will allow the energy holding company to reduce its overall debt and fund growth projects. Black Hills also said it intends to redeem $225 million of senior unsecured 6.5% notes that were scheduled to mature May 15, 2013.

Chimera Energy Corp. officials traveled to Mexico City Monday to continue their discussions with Pemex on the use of the U.S. company’s new nonhydraulic extraction system that aims to replace hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

After a second quarter of strong production growth in the Bakken Shale and Anadarko Woodford, Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources Inc. said it is ahead of schedule on its five-year plan to triple production.

Oklahoma City-based GMX Resources Inc. has hired Global Hunter Securities to help it sell a portion of the company’s Cotton Valley Sand liquids-rich natural gas properties in East Texas. A transaction is expected during the third quarter, GMX said. The company’s natural gas resources are in the East Texas Basin, in the Haynesville/Bossier shale and the Cotton Valley Sand Formation, where the majority of its acreage is contiguous, with infrastructure in place and substantially all held by production, GMX said. In early 2011 GMX branched out from its Haynesville/Bossier properties and acquired about 67,724 net acres within the core horizontal oil development areas of the Bakken/Sanish-Three Forks Formation in the Williston Basin and the Niobrara Formation in the Denver-Julesburg Basin (see Shale Daily, Feb. 2, 2011).

ExxonMobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson gave a New York City audience a glimpse of natural gas producers’ empty pockets during an exchange about gas prices following a speech he gave to the Council on Foreign Relations last Wednesday.

ExxonMobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson gave a New York City audience a glimpse of natural gas producers’ empty pockets during an exchange about gas prices following a speech he gave to the Council on Foreign Relations Wednesday.

Shale and tight oil plays are key components of the North American portfolio of Norway’s Statoil ASA, executives told investors in New York City Wednesday. The company also has announced a farm-in agreement that gives it early entry into an Australian shale play.

FERC’s Office of Enforcement has preliminarily determined that Kansas City, MO-based natural gas distributor Missouri Gas Energy (MGE) violated the agency’s capacity release regulations. The alleged violations involved a total of almost 69 Bcf of capacity.