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A top Canadian agricultural concern, Cargill Limited, reported Wednesday it closed a deal to buy Mirant Corp.’s Canadian natural gas aggregator services contracts and a major slice of its gas transportation and storage contracts. Terms of the sale, which was first announced in May, were not disclosed.

Tom Brown Inc. said Friday that it has closed on its previously announced acquisition of Matador Petroleum Corp. for approximately $373 million in cash and assumed debt, increasing its proved reserves by an estimated 269 Bcfe to approximately 1.02 Tcfe. The deal was first announced in mid May (see Daily GPI, May 15).

Mt. Pleasant, MI-based Gastar Exploration Ltd. said last week that it has closed on its previously announced Powder River Basin earn-in joint venture with Pinnacle Gas Resources Inc., a new company formed by affiliates of Riverton, WY-based Rocky Mountain Gas Inc. (RMG), Houston-based CCBM Inc. and Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity fund.

Mt. Pleasant, MI-based Gastar Exploration Ltd. said Tuesday that it has closed on its previously announced Powder River Basin earn-in joint venture with Pinnacle Gas Resources Inc., a new company formed by affiliates of Riverton, WY-based Rocky Mountain Gas Inc. (RMG), Houston-based CCBM Inc. and Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity fund.

Magnum Hunter Resources Inc. said Monday that it had closed on the sale of a $13.4 million package of non-core South Louisiana oil and gas properties to a private undisclosed third party. The deal included approximately 42 wells in nine separate fields located in Acadia, Iberville, Lafourche, Plaquemines, Point Coupee, St. Mary, and Terrebonne Parishes, LA and Newton and Orange Counties, TX. Including the South Louisiana sale, Magnum Hunter estimated its total sales of non-core properties to-date reaches $115 million. The company noted that most all of the properties sold were acquired in conjunction with the March 2002 merger with Prize Energy Co. All of the net proceeds received from the various divestitures over the past year have been used to further reduce Magnum Hunter’s overall indebtedness. “The sale of this latest group of South Louisiana properties allows Magnum Hunter to exit this region and further allows our Gulf Coast technical staff to concentrate on our core fields located in South Texas,” said Richard R. Frazier, COO of Magnum Hunter. “The majority of the value of the South Louisiana properties divested were in non-producing categories, requiring additional risk capital to fully exploit. By divesting out of South Louisiana, we can further reduce our indebtedness with minimal effect on the company’s current daily production.”

Apache Corp. has closed the Gulf of Mexico portion of its $1.3 billion acquisition of producing properties fomerly owned by BP. The United Kingdom North Sea portion of the transaction is expected to close within the next two months. Apache paid an adjusted price of $509 million for the Gulf of Mexico properties, which have estimated proved reserves of 72.2 million boe. The price was adjusted from the originally announced $670 million to account for the exercise of preferential rights by third parties involved in some of the properties (a reduction of $70 million), production since the Jan. 1, 2003, effective date of the transaction, and other minor adjustments. The Gulf of Mexico properties are located offshore Texas and Louisiana in areas where Apache has substantial existing operations. Net current production from the acquired properties, after adjustments, is 200 MMcf/d and 19,000 bbl/d of liquids.

Dominion announced Thursday that it closed on a $1.45 billion revolving credit facility with JP Morgan that features a unique pricing mechanism, called relative value pricing, which adjusts interest payments based on reference to bond market pricing. Dominion and JP Morgan said they expect the new financing method to “win widespread popularity…attract more lenders to the market and serve as a model for future unsecured short-term credit for investment grade companies.”

Dynegy Inc. has closed the sale of its U.S. communications business, including a high-capacity broadband network spanning more than 16,000 miles with access points in 44 U.S. cities, to an affiliate of 360networks Corp. Financial terms of the deal, first announced in late March, were not disclosed. CEO Bruce A. Williamson said the sale finalizes Dynegy’s exit from communications. “The Dynegy you see now — and into the future — is one built around its core energy businesses, which include power generation, natural gas liquids and regulated energy delivery.”

While much of the gas industry is busy preparing for a period of low prices and declining demand due to the weakening economy, Duke Energy is showing great confidence in future gas market growth. The company announced plans late Thursday to buy Westcoast Energy in a cash and stock transaction valued at US$8.5 billion, including $4 billion in debt assumption. The move greatly expands Duke’s North American natural gas pipeline holdings and positions it for a strong role in future gas infrastructure expansions.