Debt

Through a swap with holders of unsecured debt, Houston-based Halcon Resources Corp. gave itself more time to wait out the commodity price rout at the expense of a higher cost of capital. It also disclosed a delisting notice from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Reporting more losses after its first full quarter as an independent, Los Angeles-based California Resources Corp., the recent spinoff from…

Reporting more losses after its first full quarter as an independent, Los Angeles-based California Resources Corp. (CRC), the recent spinoff from Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy), is planning to shed some of its $6.6 billion in debt and sell some of its operations while waiting for oil prices to get back near $75/bbl on a sustained basis.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s decision to launch a record $3 billion bond offering to help refinance debt drew positive remarks from two of the largest credit ratings agencies.

The credit rating for PG&E Corp. and utility subsidiary Pacific Gas & Electric Co. face a “one-in-three probability” for weaker business and financial profiles over the coming year related to the San Bruno, CA natural gas pipeline explosion, according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P).

With the “right kind of leadership” and regulatory environment, the United States could be just 10 years from achieving energy independence, Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s nonexecutive Chairman Archie Dunham said Friday.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. has completed its takeover of Plains Exploration & Production Co., with a total value of $16.2 billion, including $9.7 billion in debt. The transaction, completed Friday, included a payment of about $3.3 billion in cash ($25/Plains share), 91 million shares of Freeport common stock ($2.9 billion) and a special cash dividend of $3.00/share (see Daily GPI, May 21). The acquisition of related affiliate McMoRan Exploration Co. for close to $3 billion is expected to close on Monday (June 3), subject to shareholder approval. Former Plains Chairman and CEO Jim Flores was named co-vice chairman and CEO/president of subsidiary Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas LLC. Flores also is to be part of newly formed office of the chairman with Chairman Jim Bob Moffett and Vice Chairman Richard C. Adkerson, who also is CEO/president. Flores had served as chairman/CEO of Plains since its inception in 2002; he became president in 2004. Former Plains directors Alan Buckwalter and Thomas A. Fry also have joined the board. Buckwalter is the retired chair of JPMorgan Chase Bank, South Region, and Fry retired as president of the National Ocean Industries Association after serving from 2000 to 2010; he also previously directed the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.

Midstates Petroleum Co. Inc. is buying producing properties, as well as developed and undeveloped acreage, in the Anadarko Basin in Texas and Oklahoma for $620 million in cash from Panther Energy LLC and its partners Red Willow Mid-Continent LLC and Linn Energy Holdings LLC.

EOG Resources Inc. has struck a joint exploration and development agreement with Eaglebine formation partners ZaZa Energy Corp. and Range Resources Corp. in Walker, Grimes, Madison, Trinity and Montgomery counties, TX.