Midland

Midland, TX-based Escondido Resources II LLC touted Wednesday what it said is the highest-producing natural gas well to date in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas: its Spohn Ranch 1H well in the Hawkville Field in Webb County.

Devon Energy Corp. on Wednesday said Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. agreed to pay $1.4 billion for a 30% stake in 650,000 net acres in the Permian Basin’s Cline and Midland-Wolfcamp shales. The news offset the company’s 2Q2012 earnings report, which indicated profits were down sharply from a year ago on lower commodity prices.

Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. agreed Wednesday to pay Devon Corp. $1.4 billion for a 30% stake in 650,000 net acres in the Permian Basin’s Cline and Midland-Wolfcamp shales.

Comstock Resources Inc. has established a new core area in the Delaware Basin in West Texas, agreeing to pay Eagle Oil & Gas Co. $332.7 million for approximately 68,000 gross (44,000 net) acres in Reeves County, TX, the Frisco, TX-based company said. The deal is expected to close by the end of this month.

Clayton Williams Energy Inc. (CWEI), an independent energy company based in Midland, TX, has entered into an agreement with Chesapeake Exploration LLC in the Delaware Basin oil play. Under the terms of the agreement, CWEI can earn 75% interest in leases held by Chesapeake on about 75,000 net acres in southern Reeves County, TX. CWEI will drill at least 20 earning wells in the first year and have an option to drill an additional 20 wells per year during the next four years to earn all of Chesapeake’s acreage. CWEI will also carry Chesapeake for one-quarter of the costs in earning wells, which will earn CWEI a 75% interest in 640 net acres. Subsequent wells in an earned area will be drilled on a heads-up basis. CWEI will receive credit towards its annual drilling obligations for drilling more than 20 earning wells in any year.

Escondido Resources II LLC of Midland, TX, has sold 11,050 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale for $115.3 million. The sale consists of three distinct blocks of acreage located mainly in La Salle County in South Texas, Escondido said Tuesday.

Midland, TX-based Legacy Reserves LP, which focuses its exploration and production in the Permian Basin and in the Midcontinent, has ended discussions with Apollo Management VII LP to take the company private. The Legacy board of directors’ conflicts committee said it was unable to reach an agreement with Apollo and that it would be in the best interests of its unitholders to remain a publicly held partnership. To improve its liquidity position and mitigate the risk of falling commodity prices, Legacy, which was formed in 1993, also has entered into new oil and natural gas commodity swaps.

WTG Hugoton LP, a Midland, TX-based energy company, is seeking rehearing of an October order in which FERC denied Northern Natural Gas pipeline’s request to sell its West Hugoton gas pipe facilities in Kansas and Oklahoma to WTG Hugoton.

WTG Hugoton LP, a Midland, TX-based energy company, is seeking rehearing of an October order in which FERC denied Northern Natural Gas pipeline’s request to sell its West Hugoton gas pipe facilities in Kansas and Oklahoma to WTG Hugoton.