permian

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.

Noble Energy Inc. is selling oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin to privately held Sheridan Holding Co. II LLC of Houston for $320 million as part of an ongoing divestiture plan, the company said Tuesday.

To give Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) complete control of a joint venture (JV) in which merger partner El Paso Corp. now owns one-half, its partnership on Wednesday agreed to buy a 50% interest in the Altamont gathering and processing system in Utah’s Uinta Basin, as well as the Camino Real Gathering System in the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas.

Crosstex NGL Pipeline LP is holding a binding open season through Oct. 14 for capacity on a new natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline system (the Crosstex NGL Pipeline) to transport unfractionated NGLs produced in the Permian Basin, Midcontinent, Barnett Shale, Eagle Ford Shale and Rocky Mountain areas from the Mont Belvieu, TX, area to NGL fractionation facilities in Eunice and Riverside, LA. Crosstex Energy LP and Crosstex Energy Inc. plan to construct the common carrier pipeline with a preliminary design capacity of at least 70,000 b/d to Eunice, with a lesser amount of capacity available to Riverside (see Shale Daily, July 27). Crosstex NGL Pipeline is scheduled to be operational in the first quarter of 2013. For more information, contact Brad Iles at (214) 721-9363, or brad.iles@crosstexenergy.com.

Encore Energy Partners LP(ENP) closed on an acquisition of producing oil and natural gas assets in the Permian Basin of West Texas for a net price of $14.8 million from a private seller. The properties have estimated total net proved reserves of 1.03 million boe, of which 87% are oil and natural gas liquids (NGL). They are 51% proved developed, and current production is about 115 Boe/d. The effective date of the acquisition was May 1, 2011. ENP also said it agreed to acquire certain nonoperated working interests in producing oil and natural gas assets in Sweetwater County, WY, from an undisclosed seller for $28.5 million. The assets have estimated total proved reserves of 4.175 million boe, of which 65% are natural gas and 35% are oil and NGLs. They are 90% proved developed, and net production attributable to the acquisition is 880 boe/d. Closing is expected in September with an effective date of June 1, 2011. ENP said it made new oil and gas hedges covering a substantial portion of the estimated production related to proved developed reserves from both acquisitions for the next several years.

Petrohawk Energy Corp. got into the Eagle Ford Shale and moved fast. Those are the keys to success in shale plays, the company’s vice president of exploration, Charles Cusack, told a Houston audience Wednesday.

Crosstex Energy LP and Apache Corp. said they will invest $85 million in a newbuild natural gas processing facility in the Permian Basin in West Texas. The initial phase of the project will provide interim and long-term processing solutions, compression and residue gas takeaway for Apache’s Deadwood development in Glasscock County. Crosstex and Apache will fund the project equally and each hold a 50% working interest. Separately, Crosstex will buy and upgrade a nearby rail terminal to provide transportation of natural gas liquids to its Eunice fractionation facility in southern Louisiana.

The EXCO Resources Inc. board of directors is ending its bid to sell the company.

EOG Resources Inc. has taken its Marcellus Shale leasehold off the market because it’s a “core holding” and big plans are on the table to develop it once natural gas prices recover, CEO Mark Papa said Tuesday.