Core

Continuing with its plan of focusing on core assets, Duke Energy Field Services (DEFS) on Friday signed two separate purchase and sale agreements by which it will sell one package of assets in Mississippi, Texas, Alabama and Louisiana to Crosstex Energy Services LP. and a second package of assets in eastern Oklahoma to ScissorTail Energy LLC.

As part of Duke Energy’s ongoing divestment of non-core assets, the company announced Friday that it will exit the merchant finance business at its wholly-owned subsidiary, Duke Capital Partners LLC. The unit provides capital and financial advisory services to other companies within the energy industry.

As part of Duke Energy’s ongoing divestment of non-core assets, the company announced Friday that it will exit the merchant finance business at its wholly-owned subsidiary, Duke Capital Partners LLC. The unit provides capital and financial advisory services to other companies within the energy industry.

Houston-based Newfield Exploration Co. has pumped up its core South Texas natural gas assets and more important, moved into the deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico, with the acquisition of cross-town peer EEX Corp. The transaction is valued at $640 million, including debt, and has already been approved by both boards of directors. Newfield, already dominant along the Outer Continental Shelf, gained its first foothold in deeper water, picking up 68 lease blocks, most of which EEX was exploring with Shell Oil Co.

Aquila Inc. said Thursday it has exited its investment in the Lodi Gas Storage Project in northern California as part of its continuing effort to pull out of non-core businesses and return to its regulated utility roots.

Pursuing a strategy to expand non-utility energy infrastructure businesses alongside its core utility operations in the Pacific Northwest, Bellevue, WA-based Puget Energy announced that it has bought Skibeck Pipeline Co., which it described as a “leading East Coast provider of natural gas transmission pipeline construction.” Skibeck will retain its name and 200 employees, operating regionally out of its headquarters in Randolph, NY, under Puget’s non-utility division, InfrastruX.

Noting that its objective is to focus on North Texas as its core area of development, Empire Energy Corp. on Wednesday signed a letter of agreement to purchase, for an undisclosed amount of cash and stock, additional oil and gas interests in the Fort Worth Basin of North Central Texas. It already owns a 50% working interest in production acreage of the Old World Prospect in Parker County, and will purchase the remaining 50% along with a 100% interest in three other properties in the same area. Empire also will take over as lease operator. Headquartered in Overland Park, KS, Empire’s current reserves in the Texas prospect total about 290 MMcf. At closing on the new properties, Empire’s total reserves will surpass 1.045 MMcf of proved reserves, not including potential reserves in the prolific Barnett Shale, which underlies the newly purchased acreage. Empire said that the new leases have existing gas production with gas gathering facilities in place. After some upgrades and recompletion activities are performed on the existing gas production facilities, Empire plans to drill several test wells in the Barnett Shale, and if results are positive, will begin a full field development plan to include up to 50 wells. The Old World Prospect purchase is expected to close within the next month.

Lafayette, LA-based Stone Energy Corp. has agreed to buy a “number” of oil and gas properties in its core of operations, the Gulf of Mexico, for about $300 million. No exact details were released. The independent said that a “substantial portion of the offered price” is attributed to properties “subject to elections by third party working interest owners to exercise their preferential rights.” Stone expects to finance the transaction through a combination of borrowings under its credit facility and other long-term debt instruments, and expect to close before the end of this year. Merrill Lynch is acting as financial adviser.

Noting that its objective is to focus on North Texas as its core area of development, Empire Energy Corp. on Wednesday signed a letter of agreement to purchase, for an undisclosed amount of cash and stock, additional oil and gas interests in the Fort Worth Basin of North Central Texas. It already owns a 50% working interest in production acreage of the Old World Prospect in Parker County, and will purchase the remaining 50% along with a 100% interest in three other properties in the same area. Empire also will take over as lease operator.