Transaction

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is in advanced negotiations to sell all of its midstream assets, including its stake in Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP (CHKM), for more than $4 billion, a transaction that could be completed in the next few days, sources told NGI’s Shale Daily on Wednesday. The bidder is said to be private equity giant Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which initially helped to fund the master limited partnership (MLP) and which continues to be a joint partner.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is in advanced negotiations to sell all of its midstream assets, including its stake in Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP (CHKM), for more than $4 billion, a transaction that could be completed in the next few days, sources told NGI’s Shale Daily on Wednesday. The bidder is said to be private equity giant Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which initially helped to fund the master limited partnership (MLP) and which continues to be a joint partner.

EQT Midstream Partners LP, a unit of Appalachian producer EQT Corp., is preparing to launch a public offering as a master limited partnership (MLP). The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to raise up to $250 million.

A healthy slice of Marathon Oil Corp.’s $4.8 billion capital, investment and exploration budget for next year is targeted at the Eagle Ford Shale play in South Texas as the company continues to focus on liquids-rich assets in the United States.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) should look at the full term of a swap and evaluate the liquidity of the transaction based on that term to determine whether it should be subject to mandatory clearing, a coalition of 10 energy and agriculture groups said.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) is buying Petrohawk Energy Corp.’s half of the companies’ Haynesville Shale midstream joint venture, KinderHawk Field Services, and also acquiring a 25% interest in Petrohawk’s gas gathering and treating business in the Eagle Ford Shale, the companies said.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. agreed to sell substantially all of its Barnett Shale Tier 1 properties to KKR Natural Resources (KNR), a partnership of an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP (KKR) and Premier Natural Resources, for $104 million, the companies said Wednesday.

Copano Energy LLC plans to expand the processing capacity of its Houston Central plant in Colorado County, TX, to accommodate increased demand from producers in the Eagle Ford Shale. Houston-based Copano plans to build a 400,000 Mcf/d cryogenic processing plant, bringing the facility’s total processing capacity to 1.1 Bcf/d. The new plant is estimated to cost $145 million and could be in service by early 2013. Copano, a midstream natural gas company with operations in four states, owns assets including nine processing plants with more than 1 Bcf/d of combined processing capacity and 22,000 b/d of fractionation capacity.

EOG Resources Inc. has such faith in its shift from a natural gas-weighted producer to one more weighted to natural gas liquids (NGL) and oil that it sees the traditional production growth yardstick almost obsolete, according to CEO Mark Papa.