Venture

Energy banker First Reserve Corp. on Tuesday said it has created a joint venture (JV) with Appalachian operator Energy Corp. of America (ECA) initially to build natural gas gathering systems in the Marcellus Shale.

A newly formed joint venture (JV) of Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. and Avista Capital Partners has closed its first acquisition: 15,000 net acres in the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania at an average cost of less than $1,500/acre, Carrizo said. The deal is the second announcement from the company in the same week as it strengthens its finances to plow ahead in the shales.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. and a unit of India’s Gail (India) Ltd. have closed on a joint venture (JV) that gives Gail 20% of Carrizo’s interest in about 20,200 net acres in the condensate zone of the Eagle Ford Shale for $95 million.

PDC Mountaineer (PDCM), a joint venture of Petroleum Development Corp. and Lime Rock Partners V LP, will pay $152.5 million to National Grid plc for Seneca-Upshur LLC, including the rights to an estimated 90,000 net acres in the Marcellus Shale in north central West Virginia, the company said Monday. Closing is scheduled for Monday (Oct. 3), with an effective date of July 1, 2011.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. appears to be joining a growing list of companies interested in the Utica Shale of Ohio.

ConocoPhillips expects to complete the spinoff its refining arm by the middle of next year, which would absorb the natural gas and oil pipelines as well as joint venture projects, CEO Jim Mulva said last week.

ConocoPhillips expects to complete the spinoff its refining arm by the middle of next year, which would absorb the natural gas and oil pipelines as well as joint venture projects, CEO Jim Mulva said Wednesday.

Seeking gas gathering capacity for its joint venture exploration and production operations in the Marcellus Shale, Ontario-based Epsilon Energy Ltd. said it has entered an agreement with its partners Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Statoil USA Onshore Properties Inc. to construct a new gathering system.

Mountainview Energy Ltd. announced it intends to acquire a 20% interest in approximately 67,000 gross acres (about 13,400 net acres) in the Bakken/Three Forks Shale in a stock deal valued at about C$21.5 million. The parcels are located in the Medicine Lake Prospect, which is in Divide County, ND, and Richland, Roosevelt and Sheridan counties, MT. The acquisition will increase Mountainview’s position in the Williston Basin to approximately 25,400 net acres.