Holdings

Texas American Resources Co. affiliate TARH E&P Holdings LP completed a farmout on a portion of its Eagle Ford Shale and Buda acreage in South Texas.

Gas Natural Inc. unit Spelman Pipeline Holdings LLC has acquired pipeline assets in Ohio and Kentucky from Marathon Petroleum Co. LP. In Ohio the assets include more than 140 miles of pipeline spanning almost a third of the state from Marion to Youngstown. Other Ohio assets are in metropolitan and south suburban Cleveland. The Kentucky assets include more than 60 miles of right-of-way in the Louisville area and points south. Spelman intends to convert the Ohio pipelines from refined products and oil to transport natural gas to new markets where gas service is not currently available as well as to link it to markets served by its Ohio affiliates. Future plans include extending the lines to participate in the Utica and Marcellus shale plays, the company said. Plans for the Kentucky assets are not yet determined, Spelman said.

Jones Energy Holdings (JEH) has acquired all of the producing properties in the Arkoma Basin owned and operated by Southridge Energy LLC and Pablo Energy II, which includes 20 MMcfe/d of current net production and more than 77,000 gross acres located primarily in the liquids-rich fairway of the Woodford Shale in Oklahoma’s Coal and Atoka counties, JEH said Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

AES Corporation announced Wednesday that it plans to acquire DPL Inc. in a $3.5 billion stock deal as it looks to strengthen its regional holdings.

Following the resignation of Berkshire Hathaway billionaire Warren Buffett’s chief lieutenant, David Sokol, the leadership at MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. has appointed CEO Greg Abel chairman. Buffett said the conglomerate had been very successful in recent years in large part because of Sokol, calling his accomplishments “extraordinary,” and adding that Sokol and Abel “delivered the best performance of any managers in the public utility field.” Buffett stirred up Wall Street after the markets had closed Wednesday with the announcement that Sokol had submitted his resignation to strengthen his family’s financial resources. Buffett accepted the resignation, although twice in the past few years he and the Berkshire board had talked Sokol out of resigning. The resignation followed Berkshire’s March 13 announcement that it was buying specialty chemicals firm Lubrizol on the recommendation of Sokol, who purchased nearly 100,000 shares of the company for about $10 million earlier this year. Buffett said he learned about Sokol’s stock purchase March 19. While the stock purchase raised eyebrows on Wall Street, Sokol maintained that he had done nothing wrong regarding the Lubrizol acquisition — but told CNBC that if he had it to do over again, he would do things a bit differently. According to Buffett, before he overcame his skepticism and embraced the Lubrizol deal, he was leaning toward an acquisition by MidAmerican, which includes MidAmerican Energy Co., Kern River Gas Transmission Co., Northern Natural Gas, PacifiCorp, CE Electric UK and CalEnergy Generation.

The Morgantown City Council is considering a resolution to request that West Virginia stop issuing drilling permits in its portion of the Marcellus Shale “until comprehensive legislation and inspection resources for horizontal well drilling are established to effectively protect public water resources, public health and public safety.” The resolution echoes the sentiments of a group of West Virginia House of Delegates members who have called on the state Department of Environmental Protection to institute a drilling ban until the legislature is called into special session and passes new Marcellus regulations (see Shale Daily, March 21). The legislature failed to pass proposed Marcellus regulations this year, and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has said he isn’t likely to give lawmakers a second chance by calling a special session (see Shale Daily, March 17; March 15). Recently Lewisburg, WV, the county seat of Greenbrier County, also called for a special session to address Marcellus issues. The Morgantown City Council could vote on the resolution Tuesday (April 5).

El Paso Corp. may make a decision “in the next few weeks” about whether to bring aboard a partner to help develop its holdings in the Eagle Ford Shale, CEO Doug Foshee said Monday.

Houston’s Newfield Exploration Co. has signed two separate agreements totaling $308 million that will add about 70,000 net acres to its unconventional oil and gas holdings in Utah’s Uinta Basin.

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.