Formed

Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) and Regency Energy Partners LP have formed a joint venture (JV) to buy LDH Energy Asset Holdings LLC from Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy LLC for $1.925 billion in cash.

A subsidiary of Houston’s Apache Corp. is the newest member of the Marine Well Containment Co. (MWCC), which was formed last year by Big Oil producers to help respond to well control incidents in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

A review of the Louisiana program regulating the hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) of oil and gas wells has concluded that the program is well managed; however, some recommendations for improvements were made.

Abraxas Petroleum Corp. has completed its first Eagle Ford Shale well in South Texas. Blue Eagle Energy LLC, a joint venture of Abraxas formed with Rock Oil Co. (formerly Blue Stone Oil & Gas LLC) last year (see Daily GPI, Aug. 30, 2010), drilled the T Bird 1H well in DeWitt County, TX, to a total depth of 19,450 feet, including a 5,700-foot lateral. The well was completed with a 15-stage fracture stimulation and recently placed online at a restricted rate approximately 75 days after spudding, according to San Antonio-based Abraxas. The well is being opened slowly to prevent formation damage and an unrestricted rate will be announced in the near future.

More natural gas use for power generation and transportation in the Lone Star State is a plank in the platform of the newly formed Texas Clean Energy Coalition (TCEC), which is being led by former state Sen. Kip Averitt, TCEC chairman, with funding from the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation.

New York’s ban on permitting for drilling operations involving hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has prompted Norway’s Norse Energy Corp. ASA to send notices of force majeure to landowners covering its leased acres, thereby extending its leases and awaiting shale developments under the incoming state administration.

The board of EXCO Resources Inc. has formed a special committee to consider a buyout proposal from CEO Douglas H. Miller. Evaluation of the offer — and any others that might come — is expected by analysts to take anywhere from six to 12 months.

EXCO Resources Inc. last week formed a special committee to consider a buyout proposal from CEO Douglas Miller of $20.50/share cash, the Dallas-based natural gas-focused exploration and production company said.

Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. and Norway’s Statoil ASA have formed a joint venture (JV) to acquire 97,000 net acres of liquids-rich Eagle Ford Shale properties from Enduring Resources for US$1.325 billion, the companies said.