?• King Tomlinson, Jim Gilstrap and John Foester have formed Coastal Plains Exploration LLC, Port Lavaca, Texas, to explore and exploit oil and gas reserves on the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. Tomlinson is president; Gilstrap is vice president, land and business development; and Foester is vice president, geology. The firm is primarily funded by management; the balance is funded by industry partners.
Each was previously with Neumin Production Co., Point Comfort, Texas, where they implemented a capital budget of $246 million, including approximately $20 million in production acquisitions. In a six-year period there, they added new proved reserves of some 111 billion cu. ft. equivalent at a finding cost of some $2.22 per thousand cu. ft. equivalent.
Prior to joining Neumin, Tomlinson was an engineering consultant and was with Berexco Inc. Gilstrap was previously with Pacific Enterprises and Foester was previously with Digicon.

• Charles S. Leykum, formerly a portfolio manager for Soros Fund Management LLC and?investment professional in the?principal?investment?area at Goldman, Sachs & Co., has launched CSL Energy Fund LP, based in Greenwich, Conn. The fund’s strategy is to invest in small- to midcap public securities and selected private investments in the energy sector. Leykum is joined by Gerald Cimador, the firm’s?chief?financial?officer, formerly with Moore Capital Management LLC, and two research professionals.

• Calgary-based Trident Resources Corp. has filed an S-1 to IPO an undisclosed number of shares for an undisclosed price per share for a total raise of up to US$460 million on the New York Stock Exchange as TZ. Deutsche Bank Securities and Jefferies & Co. are underwriters.
Trident has gas operations in western Canada, primarily coalbed methane in the Mannville and Horseshoe Canyon plays in Alberta and the Montney shale play in British Columbia. The assets as of June 30 consisted of interests in 943 gross (517 net) producing wells on 1.7 million gross lease acres (1.3 million net), of which 80% is undeveloped.
Average production in the Mannville and Horseshoe Canyon areas as of August was 80.1 million cu. ft. of gas equivalent per day. Estimated proved reserves as of June 30 were 394.9 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent.
Eugene I. Davis is executive chairman. He is chairman and chief executive of privately held consulting firm Pirinate Consulting Group LLC. Todd A. Dillabough is president, CEO and chief operating officer. He was president, CEO and COO of Pioneer Natural Resources Canada Inc. prior to its sale to Taqa North in November 2007. Alan G. Withey is chief financial officer. He was CFO and vice president, finance, for Ironhorse Oil & Gas Inc. and Cheyenne Energy Inc.

• Energy investment banker C.K. Cooper & Co., Irvine, Calif., senior research analyst Sven Del Pozzo has launched coverage of Bakken-shale hot stock Continental Resources Inc., Enid, Okla. (NYSE: CLR).
Continental has had industry eye-popping results from its Three Forks/Sanish wells. Third-quarter production from its total holdings was 33,297 BOE: 13,375 from the Red River units; 6,187 from the Montana Bakken; 3,444 from the North Dakota Bakken; 2,275 from other Rockies-region assets; 2,627 from the Woodford shale in the Arkoma Basin; 4,895 from other Midcontinent holdings; and 494 from the Gulf Coast.
Del Pozzo says, “Continental offers a unique combination of low operating and financial leverage with a deep, growing, heavily oil-weighted resource base on an industry-leading 600,000 net acres in the Bakken shale of North Dakota, providing many years of drilling inventory in what may be the United States’ last great source of new oil onshore.”

• Carbo Ceramics Inc., Irving, Texas, (NYSE: CRR) has resumed production of ceramic proppant in its New Iberia, La., manufacturing facility. The facility is expected to add 50 million pounds to the company’s current annual manufacturing capacity.
Carbo Ceramics president and chief executive Gary Kolstad says, “Drilling activity in fracture-intensive resource plays has resulted in unprecedented demand…This plant is strategically located to supply the growing demand for ceramic proppant in the Haynesville shale formation in northwestern Louisiana and East Texas.”
Much of the output is expected to be directed to that region. The company is also moving forward with construction of a third production line at its Toomsboro, Ga., facility that is expected to add 250 million pounds of annual capacity in early 2010.

• Newpark Resources Inc., The Woodlands, Texas, (NYSE: NR) and CCS Inc., Calgary, (Toronto: CCR) have agreed to cancel the proposed sale of Newpark Environmental Services to CCS after the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit to block it, saying that the combination would be anti-competitive.
Newpark president and chief executive officer Paul Howes says, “While the company disagrees with the conclusions reached by the FTC, CCS has advised us that they no longer wish to pursue the matter in the courts…We intend to bring the environmental services business back in as part of the Newpark group of companies.”
Newpark provides drilling fluids, temporary worksites and access roads for oilfield and other markets, and environmental waste treatment.

• Storm Cat Energy Corp., Calgary, (Amex: SCU; Toronto: SME) reports that all of its U.S. subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Colorado. Storm Cat Energy was not included in the U.S. filing. It has engaged Parkman Whaling LLC to assist in exploring strategic business alternatives and turnaround and restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal to assist with its restructuring efforts. Storm Cat Energy’s U.S. businesses were in default on their series A and series B subordinated convertible notes for which a quarterly interest payment was due on Sept. 30. As a result, the interest rate has grown from 9.25% to 12%.

• Platina Energy Group, Dallas, (OTCBB: PLTG) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas. Platina operates in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky and Wyoming.
As of March 31, the company owned interests in approximately 8,600 gross acres, as well as working interests in 73 gross wells. It had estimated net proved reserves of 2.9 million bbl. of oil and 21.6 billion cu. ft. of gas. The company, formerly known as Windom Inc., was incorporated in 1988.
President and chief executive Blair Merriman says, “These are obviously trying times for anyone involved in the capital markets. The last year has seen wealth significantly eroded due to a decrease in equity values in the public markets. Platina has partly been a victim of these circumstances, although to no surprise of mine.”
Merriman adds that the bulk of his net worth and liquid cash is invested in the company, and “I will continue to do what is necessary to support the company and its efforts in any way that I can to the best of my ability.”

• Epic Energy Resources Inc., Houston, (OTCBB: EPCC) reports it can’t make its $1.265-million quarterly redemption payment that was due Dec. 1 to debt-holders. Payment toward the $20.5-million note’s principal is due quarterly, along with accrued interest. The Dec. 1 payment was to be the first over four years.
The company reports it is negotiating with debenture-holders to restructure the debt to provide more financial flexibility “for Epic, while also providing acceptable returns for its debt-holders.”
Rex P. Doyle, Epic chief executive officer, says, “Over the past three quarters we have continued to make the changes necessary to position Epic and all of our business units to compete in the currently challenging market. We continue to reduce our cost structure, improve our operating efficiencies and closely manage our cash position in order to more favorably position ourselves, thereby serving the interest of all of our stakeholders.”

• Mesa Offshore Trust, Austin, Texas, reports it will not distribute trust income to unit-holders in November because it failed to receive expected royalty income. Mesa reports it cannot pay unit-holders until JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, as trustee, recoups the $3.9 million in expenses that it has established for future needs. In addition, Mesa currently owes $134,000 in current and future abandonment expenses for properties in which Mesa has an interest, which will be deducted from any future gross proceeds on the royalty properties.

• Dril-Quip Inc., Houston, (NYSE: DRQ) has adopted a shareholder-rights plan to protect itself against a hostile takeover. Stockholders received one right per common share owned at the close of business Dec. 5. The plan would be triggered if an acquiring party accumulates at least 15% of Dril-Quip’s stock and would give rights-holders the ability to purchase either Dril-Quip stock or shares in the acquiring entity at half of market value.
Dril-Quip’s co-chief executive officers report, “The rights plan has been adopted because of stock market instability and not in response to any current accumulation of shares or takeover situation. The plan is intended only as a general deterrent to potentially unfair or coercive takeover practices that could be employed. In light of the current circumstances in the financial and securities markets, we believe the stockholder rights plan represents a sound and reasonable means of safeguarding the interests of the company’s stockholders.”
The rights plan is similar to that of most other public companies. The rights will expire Nov. 24, 2018. Dril-Quip manufactures offshore drilling and production equipment.

• Nasdaq has informed Quest Energy Partners LP, Oklahoma City, (Nasdaq: QELP) that, because it failed to file its Form 10-Q on time, it is no longer in compliance for listing on the exchange. Quest reports that it plans to submit and execute a plan to return to compliance. The Quest MLP was formed by Quest Resource Corp. (Nasdaq: QRCP) and is the largest gas producer in the Cherokee Basin in southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma.

• TCW Energy Partners LLC, Los Angeles, reports a third-quarter net loss of $8.1 million. The investment company generated net investment income of $3.4 million and earned $9.8 million in gains on investments. Overall, net asset value decreased 5% during the quarter. TCW Energy was to distribute $0.40 per unit in early December to unit-holders as of Nov. 26.
Distributions for the first three quarters will total $1 per common unit or an annualized yield of approximately 6.4%, he adds. TCW Energy is managed by The TCW Group, which manages approximately $118 billion in assets and is a business unit of Societe Generale.

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