?• Privately owned, Houston-based Seismic Equipment Solutions has received an undisclosed leveraged recapitalization led by the private equity firm Perseus LLC. The completion of the transaction will allow Seismic Equipment to explore opportunities for growth both organically and through strategic acquisitions, and further strengthens the position of the company with respect to its primary competitor, Mitcham Industries. Westlake Securities LLC was financial advisor to Seismic Equipment. Seismic Equipment president and chief executive Glen Huscroft says, “Westlake Securities was able to complete our recapitalization despite extremely difficult conditions in the credit markets and a precipitous decline in energy prices during the process. Their understanding of our business and the seismic industry, along with their deep network of relationships in the private equity community, made a huge difference.”

• New Orleans-based Pritchard Capital Partners plans a merger with New Orleans-based global investment bank Global Hunter Securities LLC to form Pritchard Global Hunter Securities. The deal value was undisclosed. Pritchard Global Hunter Securities will be a full-service, energy-focused investment bank offering services targeted to small- to mid-cap energy entities. Thomas Pritchard will become president and managing director of capital markets, and Global Hunter chief executive Daniel Conwell will be CEO and head of investment banking. Global Hunter president Edward Lainfiesta will become vice chairman, and Pritchard Capital chief financial officer Todd Giustiniano will be CFO.

• Credo Petroleum Corp., Denver, (Nasdaq: CRED) reports that with its natural gas reserves and production both taking a hit in 2008, it has retained Merrill Lynch as an advisor. For the year ended Oct. 31, 2008, Credo’s gas reserves fell from 17 billion cu. ft. to 15.5 billion cu. ft. The company credits its central Kansas Uplift drilling program for the 20% rise in its oil reserves, which now account for 22% of total reserves, compared to 17% in 2007. Overall net reserves fell 4% to 19.8 billion cu. ft. equivalent from last year’s record 20.5 billion cu. ft. equivalent.
Natural gas prices in the company’s primary producing areas averaged $3.50 per MMBtu, which the company says resulted in a significant reduction in its reserves. Production in 2008 fell 16% to 1.88 billion cu. ft. equivalent from 2.23 billion in 2007. Credo says the decline is due to rig delays and the delay of projects due to high costs. In 2009, Credo will be working on four new wells in which it owns working interests ranging from 44% to 85%. The company’s assets are in the Midcontinent and Rocky Mountain regions.

• Westport, Conn.-based energy private equity firm Lime Rock Partners has named Will Franklin, J. McLane and Simon Munro managing directors. Franklin is based in the Houston office and has leadership experience in the firm’s investment efforts in the energy service and E&P sectors in North America and internationally. McLane is based in the Houston office and has experience executing the firm’s investment strategy, primarily in the E&P and energy service sectors in Canada and the U.S. Munro is based in the Aberdeen, U.K., office and held a leadership role in Lime Rock’s execution of E&P, energy service, and oil service technology investment opportunities in northwestern Europe and internationally. Kris Agarwal has been named director and assistant general counsel. He has experience with Vinson & Elkins LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom LLP. Lime Rock manages $3.8 billion of private capital for investment in the energy industry.

• Randy Stevens has launched his third start-up E&P. Midland, Texas- and Dallas-based Stanolind Oil and Gas LP has been formed with private-equity backing from Natural Gas Partners to acquire and exploit properties in the Permian Basin and Midcontinent, primarily, while looking at acquiring operations in other basins as well.?Stevens, president and chief executive, formed and sold two other NGP-backed E&Ps: Stanolind Oil and Gas Corp., which was sold to Eagle Rock Energy in April 2008 and of which he was president and CEO, and Permian Resources Holdings Inc., which was sold to Chesapeake Energy Corp. in 2004 and of which he was executive vice president, chief financial officer and a principal.
Marshall J. Eves is executive vice president of the new Stanolind and heads the Dallas office. Eves was previously operations manager for H&M Resources LLC, involving Permian and Midcontinent properties, and with Pioneer Natural Resources as an engineer on its South Texas and Permian assets. Stevens leads the Midland office.?Bob Marshall and Randy Bruno, advisory directors and investors with the newly formed Stanolind, were principals in Permian Resources Holdings, and Marshall was an investor with the prior Stanolind.

• Consol Energy Inc., Pittsburgh, (NYSE: CNX) and its majority-owned subsidiary CNX Gas Corp. (NYSE: CXG) have consolidated management positions to increase efficiency and reduce costs across all business areas. Consol president and chief executive J. Brett Harvey has been named chairman and CEO of CNX Gas. Nicholas J. DeIuliis has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of Consol and president and COO of CNX Gas. Robert F. Pusateri has been named executive vice president, energy sales and transportation services, for both companies. He remains president of Consol Energy Sales Co. P. Jerome Richey has been named executive vice president, corporate affairs, and chief legal officer, and Robert P. King has been named executive vice president, business advancement and support services, for both companies.

• Greenwich, Conn.-based energy-focused private equity firm First Reserve Corp. has named Christopher Ortega director. He is an investment professional covering the energy industry, and was vice president at Greenhill Capital Partners. First Reserve chairman and chief executive William E. Macaulay says, “Chris has been an integral member of our deal team and has played a meaningful role in First Reserve’s growth and success. His outstanding contribution to the firm has helped First Reserve maintain the significant momentum that it has generated in the past. Chris is a wonderful example of the high level of talent we have been able to attract and retain at First Reserve.”
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• Atlas Energy Resources LLC, Pittsburgh, (NYSE: ATN) announces that it has completed the sale of its year-end drilling program with subscriptions for $201.2 million in investor capital.
This represents a 23.3% increase from the 2007 year-end program, which raised $163.5 million. Atlas Energy raised $348 million in new investor drilling funds during calendar 2008, which was an increase of approximately $74.5 million, or 20.5%, compared with funds raised in 2007. Drilling for the current program commenced in late November.

• U.K.-based Barclays Capital, the investment-banking division of Barclays Plc (London: BARC), plans to acquire certain commodities businesses from Swiss investment bank UBS (NYSE: UBS) for an undisclosed price. UBS will transfer its base metals, oil and U.S. power and gas businesses. The transfer is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter. Terms and conditions were not disclosed. This follows the announcement in December that J.P. Morgan would buy UBS’ Canadian-based energy-commodities business and its global agriculture practice.

• Four members of Houston-based midstream company Falcon Gas Storage Co.’s original founding management group have formed a new Houston-based, privately held company called Peregrine Midstream Partners LLC. John M. Hopper, Jeffrey H. Foutch, Keith Chandler and Thomas B. Wynne have formed and are managing directors of the new Peregrine venture to pursue development and acquisition opportunities in the midstream energy sector, including gas storage, transportation and processing; natural gas liquids extraction; and crude oil and NGL storage and handling.
In addition to building Falcon subsidiary NorTex into the largest independent gas storage company in North Texas, the founding management group was responsible for the initial development of the MoBay Storage Hub, slated to be the largest gas storage project ever developed in the southeastern U.S. with 50 billion cubic feet of high-deliverability, multi-cycle (HDMC) gas storage capacity. Hopper says, “We left Falcon with a balance sheet footing exceeding $540 million and positioned as the largest independent gas storage company in north Texas, as well as one of the largest privately-owned midstream companies in the entire country. It should be great fun and a tremendous opportunity replicating that success with Peregrine.”
• Quest Energy Partners LP, Oklahoma City, (Nasdaq: QELP) suspended distributions on its common units, beginning with those from the fourth quarter of 2008 that were scheduled to be paid in mid-February. The company says the decision to suspend distributions was based on its board’s “desire to ensure (Quest Energy Partners) has sufficient liquidity to properly conduct operations, maintain strategic options, and comply with the terms of its debt instruments in light of the recent declines in natural gas prices and the maturity of its second lien loan at the end of September 2009.” Quest owns more than 2,300 wells and is the largest producer of natural gas in the Cherokee Basin in southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma.?

• Hiland Partners LP, Enid, Okla., (Nasdaq: HLND) may retreat from the market due to the economic crisis. The company’s chairman, Harold Hamm, submitted an offer to fully acquire the company and its general partner, Hiland Holdings GP, and take the companies private. The offer calls for Hamm to acquire all Hiland Partners common units that are not held by him, his affiliates or his family trust, at a price of $9.50 in cash per unit and all Hiland Holdings common units for $3.20 per unit. The acquisition would not require any debt financing to complete. Terms call for Hamm, the executive teams and most, if not all, employees to remain in place after the companies are taken private via a merger with a new acquisition vehicle.

• Gale Force Petroleum Inc., Montreal, (Toronto Venture: GFP) plans a restructuring of its debts, with concurrent refinancing necessary. It will file a proposal to creditors under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. The company began its restructuring plan with liabilities that exceeded C$6 million, assets worth less than C$1 million and minimal revenues. In the event of a bankruptcy there would be no value remaining for Gale Force shareholders, so the company has determined the best option is to file the proposal. If the proposal is approved, Gale Force will require a minimum amount of equity financing for the restructuring to be successful and for the corporation to continue as a going concern. Gale Force has producing gas properties in Alberta, Canada, and Kentucky.

• Habanero Resources Inc., Vancouver, (CDNX: HAO; Pink Sheets: HBNRF) has dropped two of the oil-sands leases in Alberta in which the company had a 50% interest. The leases were in the Peace River and Athabasca oil-sands regions. Current market conditions forced the action, and the company is considering potential restructuring and refinancing. Habanero has oil and gas assets in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Texas.

• Energy Transfer Partners LP, Dallas, (NYSE: ETP) has completed two new pipelines that will transport an additional 1.1 billion cu. ft. of gas per day from the Barnett shale gas field in northcentral Texas. The 31-mile, 36-inch Southern Shale pipeline originates in southern Tarrant County and provides 700 million cu. ft. per day of take-away capacity. Southern Shale will transport natural gas to ETP’s Maypearl compression station, which delivers gas to the company’s pipeline infrastructure. The 20-mile, 26-inch Cleburne-to-Tolar pipeline originates in the western portion of the Barnett shale play and connects to ETP’s Cleburne compression station, which delivers gas to its pipeline system, including to its Cleburne-to-Carthage and North Texas pipelines.

• New York-based ANS Investments LLC has continued its arguments against Magellan Petroleum Corp., Hartford, Conn. (Nasdaq: MPET), arguing that Magellan is mismanaging its activities. ANS previously recommended that chief executive and founder Jonah M. Meer be added to the Magellan

?board following complaints that the drop in Magellan’s stock prices was due to mismanagement. Magellan countered these claims by arguing the price drop was due to increases in U.K. operations and the drop in share value was industry-wide. In a new letter to Magellan, ANS CEO Meer says that while ANS applauds Magellan’s change in management, it believes that again, the company has bungled the job. Meers argues that shareholders were not told in advance that William Hastings would be replacing Daniel J. Samela as president and CEO.

• The Tulsa County district court in Oklahoma entered a final judgment in the H.B. Krug, et al. v. Helmerich & Payne Inc., Tulsa, Okla., (NYSE: HP) case, finding that H&P owed plaintiffs a total award of $126.4 million in disgorged profits. In November, the jury found that up to $6.845 million should be awarded to plaintiff royalty owners. The jury also rendered an advisory ruling to the court that up to $61.622 million should be paid to disgorge H&P’s alleged profits since 1989 resulting from its possession of the $6.845 million. Pursuant to the 2002 spin-off transaction to shareholders of H&P by which Cimarex Energy Co., Denver, (NYSE: XEC) became a publicly traded entity, Cimarex assumed the assets and liabilities of H&P’s exploration and production business. Cimarex will appeal the district court’s judgments.

• Paco Oil & Gas Inc., Sherman, Texas, (Pink Sheets: POGC) plans to change its name to Paco Integrated Energy Inc. to reflect its recent acquisition of WW Oil & Gas Inc. and its intention to become more diversified in areas such as alternative energy resources.

• Madison, N.J.-based Macro Securities Depositor LLC reports a four-for-one stock split of both MacroShares $100 Oil Up (NYSE: UOY) and MacroShares $100 Oil Down (NYSE: DOY). The two are investment vehicles that allow investors access to tracking the price performance of crude oil without credit risk. The assets are invested in U.S. treasuries, overnight repurchase agreements and cash.

• Mullen Group Income Fund, Okotoks, Alberta, (Toronto: MTL-UN) plans to convert from an income trust to a corporation following a review of the restructuring alternatives. Chairman and chief executive Murray K. Mullen says, “On Oct. 31, 2006, when the (Canadian) federal government announced its intention to effectively eliminate the income trust structure, we knew that the day would come when we would be forced to convert. Today we announced that a conversion in 2009 is in the best interests of Mullen and our securityholders.”

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