Robertson

Industry Brief

Gastar Exploration Ltd. has sold its majority interest in the Hilltop Resort Gathering System to US Infrastructure LP (USI). The Hilltop Resort Gathering System is composed of 20 miles of gas pipeline extending through Robertson and Leon Counties, TX, with a gathering capacity of 120 MMcf/d. The system is connected to 24 Gastar-operated wells, which produce from the middle and lower Bossier and Knowles formations in East Texas. Gastar received approximately $21.7 million, net of costs and expenses associated with the transaction. “The sale of our stake in the Hilltop system provides an attractive return on our investment and additional liquidity to pursue our drilling plans in East Texas and the Marcellus Shale while maintaining a very low level of leverage,” said Gastar CEO J. Russell Porter. USI partnered with Metalmark Capital to finance the transaction.

November 18, 2009