Private

Rangeland Energy is buying land near Loving, NM, where it plans to develop a large terminal facility to handle crude oil, frack sand, pipe and other products; plans for a crude oil pipeline to the terminal also are in the works, the company said Monday.

Private equity (PE) upstream investor Ridgewood Energy Corp. is partnering with a fund managed by Riverstone Holdings LLC to invest more than $550 million in a series of deepwater exploration projects in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

Appalachian midstream provider MarkWest Energy Partners LP and private equity fund The Energy and Minerals Group (EMG) have completed an amendment to give EMG a larger stake in their joint venture (JV) in the Utica Shale.

Mack Redford, a former Boise private practice attorney, has been confirmed for a second six-year term on the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) by the Idaho State Senate. Redford was appointed to a second six-year term by Gov. Butch Otter, who originally appointed him to the PUC in 2007, and in 2008-2009 he served as president of the three-member regulatory panel. A former attorney specializing in commercial transactions, construction and engineering law, Redford now serves on the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners, serving on both the international and water committees.

Endurance Resources Holdings LLC announced Monday that Lime Rock Partners, a global energy-focused private equity firm, had committed $100 million for Endurance to acquire oil-focused assets and additional opportunities in two Southeast New Mexico counties that overlay the Bone Spring formation.

A standoff between the city of San Francisco and its major private-sector utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), which is preventing the last few miles of outdated cast iron natural gas pipelines in the city from being replaced, has caused state regulators to enter the dispute.

A standoff between the city of San Francisco and its major private-sector utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), that is preventing the last few miles of outdated cast iron gas pipelines in the city from being replaced has caused state regulators to enter the dispute.

Denver-based Forest Oil Corp. Wednesday said it would make interim CEO Patrick R. McDonald the company’s permanent chief, prompting speculation by one analyst that “all strategic options remain on the table for the company.”

Facing an ongoing challenge of flaring up to almost a third of its associated natural gas supplies in the oil-rich Bakken Shale, North Dakota is considering a proposal to use mobile equipment to turn some of the flared supplies into much-needed fertilizer for the state’s agricultural industry. Another proposal calls for a $1 billion farmer-owned fertilizer plant using natural gas currently being flared.