Additional News • Crusader Energy II LLC, Oklahoma City, has been formed with capital provided by former chief executive of Crusader Energy Corp. David D. Le Norman; other ex-Crusader I management; and Kayne Anderson Energy Fund II, a private-equity fund managed by Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors. Crusader Energy Corp. is being sold to Fort Worth, Texas-based Encore Acquisition Co. (NYSE: EAC) for $93.5 million. Crusader Energy II will start with $14-million worth of former Crusader I land-holdings in Oklahoma and Texas. • Union Drilling Inc., Bridgeville, Pa., has filed for an IPO to raise an estimated $150 million. The stock would trade on the Nasdaq National Market as UDRL. Eight-year-old Union has 65 U.S. contract land-drilling rigs of which 60 are marketed and five are stacked. By third-quarter 2005, the company plans to have 67 rigs. Its principal basins of operation are the Appalachian, Arkoma, Fort Worth, Piceance and Uinta. Proceeds will be used to pay debt, acquire and construct additional rigs and related equipment, upgrade its fleet and for general corporate purposes. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Jefferies and Co. Inc are lead underwriters; Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and RBC Capital Markets Corp. are underwriters for the deal. • GE Commercial Finance Energy Financial Services, Stamford, Conn., has invested for the first time offshore, in a $70-million limited partnership with Gulf of Mexico-focused F-W Oil Exploration LLC. The GE unit will also finance the completion of a 48-mile gas pipeline from F-W's fields in the South Padre Island area offshore Texas. "This financing enables us to monetize reserves at very attractive commodity prices in the forward market while remaining focused on deploying risk capital in exploration," says Jim Brock, F-W Oil president. John Schaeffer, managing director of oil and gas at the GE unit, says, "Investing in offshore reserves significantly increases the opportunities for expanding our oil and gas portfolio." Since 1991, the GE unit has provided $2.2 billion in partnership equity and $300 million in senior-secured debt to independents, and owns $1.5 billion in reserves, producing more than 140 million cu. ft. of gas and 31,000 bbl. of oil per day. • Natural Gas Partners, Irving, Texas, and investor Philip J. Deutch have formed NGP Energy Technology Partners LP with initial commitments of $94.1 million to invest in companies that develop energy technologies or provide technology-driven products and services to the energy industry. • Jefferies International Ltd., London, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Jefferies Group Inc., has named Charles Sharp a senior equity research analyst in the firm's global energy research practice. Sharp was an equity research analyst with Cannacord Capital. • E&P analyst Michael Bodino and several of his Sterne Agee colleagues have joined Jackson, Miss.-based Coker Palmer, launching the firm's energy-research practice. Bodino was with Southcoast Capital, now Hibernia Southcoast, from 1999, and then Sterne Agee since 2003. Joining him at Coker Palmer are Brian Corales, Westy Westervelt, Tyler Kerrigan and Jon Sorensen. • Newly formed New York and Houston-based Avista Capital Holdings is planning to lead and co-lead new private-equity investments in the energy space. Formed in July, the team of 17 financial professionals plans to take 25% to 30% of its own capital plus institutional funding to make equity investments in the E&P and oil-service sectors. The team was the Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) private-equity group. Steven A. Webster is co-managing partner of Avista and head of the firm's energy-investment activity in Houston. Within the upstream, Avista will aim for initial investments of $50- to $100 million or more, focused on tight-gas and coalbed-methane plays. On the service side, its equity positions might be between $100- and $150 million. • Harley Brinkley has joined Charles Spradlin, senior vice president, oil and gas department, at Citizens Bank in its Humble, Texas, office as a vice president in the department. Brinkley was formerly with Madison Energy Advisors and Phillips Petroleum Co. • Denver-based Bank of the West, a unit of BNP Paribas, has closed its first energy deal after opening a new energy office in Denver last March under vice president and team leader, energy lending, Don McDonald. The bank is focusing on small- and midsize independents. McDonald was in the Denver offices of United Bank, NorWest and Wells Fargo for 16 years. Target deal size for reserve-backed loans is $1- to $25 million. The first deal was an $8-million loan for a Colorado-based oil-service company that sells tubular goods in the Rockies. • Energy Special Situations Fund, a new private-equity fund, is fund-raising with a target size of $120- to $150 million. It is being formed by a unit of Petrie Parkman & Co. with Jon Linker as manager in Houston. The fund aims to take passive interests in E&P and service companies without taking a board seat. Linker was formerly with First Reserve Corp. in its Houston office. • Roger Eustance has joined HVB Bank (HypoVereinsbank) as a director for project finance. The German bank, which has U.S. headquarters in New York, participated in Dominion's volumetric production payment in 2004. Eustance was formerly with The Stratum Group in New York. • Richard S. Kaufman has joined WestLB AG, a German bank that recently opened a Houston office. He is executive director of oil, gas and petrochemical investment banking for North America and reports to Ronald Ormond. • New York-based middle-market private-equity investment firm Saw Mill Capital has named Scott Rivard vice president. Previously, he was with Credit Suisse First Boston's natural resources group as a financial analyst. Saw Mill is focused on investing in manufacturing and service companies with market values between $25- and $150 million. • The inaugural Summer NAPE in late August in Houston drew more than 4,100 attendees and 276 exhibitors with 375 booths-more than double initial expectations. "Many of the properties people were scrambling for months ago are off the table now," one attendee said. "So I'm guessing many of the folks are just here poking around to find the next up-and-coming smaller player." Natural gas drilling prospects dominated the approximately 350 booths. • John Clark has joined Guaranty Bank's energy-banking group as senior vice president and manager of oil and gas banking. He will establish an office in Dallas. Previously, Clark was vice president for Union Bank of California in Dallas. • John M. Edmonston has been named executive vice president in Union Bank of California's energy-capital services division. Prior to joining Union Bank, he was an account officer for the corporate banking department at Security Pacific National Bank. • Midstream company Tristream Energy LLC, Sugar Land, Texas, has been formed by Ken Purgason, Tony Catalano and Mike Urban In 1998, Purgason and Catalano co-founded Sago Energy LP, which operated more than 2,400 lines and associated assets in Texas and Louisiana that were sold in 2004. Urban was chief financial officer. • The University of Houston has launched the nation's first executive master of business administration degree in global energy management (GEMBA). Courses include studies of the energy value chain, international energy finance and emerging energy technologies, along with an eight- to 10-day international residency. "We created the GEMBA program for those with technical backgrounds who need management and finance skills in order to advance to the senior executive level," says P. David Shields, professor of accounting and associate dean of graduate and professional programs. "At this time, there is no other opportunity for energy executives to acquire these skills, so we are filling a critical niche." Program faculty members include Stephen Arbogast, a retired treasurer of ExxonMobil Chemical Co.; Steven Koch, a former senior vice president of Pennzoil-Quaker State; Zlatica Kraljevic, a former director of business development for Halliburton; and Lane Sloan, a retired chief executive of Shell Chemical. • The Minerals Management Service reports that the recent Western Gulf lease sale drew total high bids of $285.2 million, the highest for this sale in seven years. Bids numbered 422 bids on 346 tracts and the number of bidding companies totaled 51, up from 45 last year. Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. analyst Robert E. Ford called the initial results "bullish for deepwater activity."

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