• First Reserve Corp., Greenwich, Conn., has closed its latest global private-equity fund, First Reserve Fund XI LP, with total commitments of $7.8 billion, the firm's largest fund raised to date.

Fund XI's primary focus is expected to be on equipment, manufacturing and service companies, but investments will be across the energy cycle.

First Reserve Fund X, raised in 2004 with commitments of $2.3 billion, is expected to be fully committed at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Notable transactions in Fund X include Dresser-Rand (NYSE: DRC), Chart Industries and Pacific Energy Partners (NYSE: PPX).

"We encountered strong investor interest allowing us to conclude our fund-raising in three months on a larger fund than originally anticipated," says Bill Macaulay, chief executive of First Reserve. "We are very grateful to our investors for working hard to meet our closing deadlines, enabling us to quickly get back to focusing all our efforts on investing in energy...."



• Natural Gas Partners, Irving, Texas, has formed Dallas-based Classic Hydrocarbons Inc. with equity from company management and Natural Gas Partners VIII LP. Classic will be focused on low-risk, strategic acquisitions and partnerships, leasehold accumulation, development and exploitation drilling, initially in East Texas and North Louisiana.

The management team includes Rob Jacobs, Don Gann and Mark Doering. Jacobs, president, was a founding partner of Encore Acquisition Co. (NYSE: EAC). Gann, chief operating officer, was also a founder of Encore and was senior vice president, operations.

Doering, chairman, operated an A&D company before forming Classic Resources Inc. in 1998 with equity from NGP. After selling, Doering formed, built and sold Classic Petroleum Inc. and Classic Petroleum Resources Inc. with NGP.

Jacobs says, "We plan on accumulating low-risk opportunities on which we can increase value through smart technical management."



• Jim Parkman stepped down as president of Petrie Parkman & Co. in June. Tom Petrie, chairman and chief executive officer, has assumed the additional role of president, and Parkman remains a shareholder and director of the firm.

"I sincerely appreciate the contributions Jim made to Petrie Parkman & Co.," Petrie says. "Together with co-founding principals Randy King and Jon Hughes, we have built one of the energy industry's leading investment-banking firms, based on integrity, trust and exceptional client service."

Hughes in the Denver office and King in the Houston office continue to lead the firm's investment-banking practice as co-heads. Hughes and King have been with Petrie Parkman since it was founded in 1989. Also, David Kornder has joined the firm as chief financial officer. Kornder previously was CFO of Patina Oil & Gas Corp.



• Atlas America Inc., Philadelphia, (Nasdaq: ATLS) reports that Atlas Energy Resources LLC, which will own and operate most of the oil and gas assets and the investment-partnership management business of the company, has filed for an IPO of 5.8 million common units, representing an approximate 16.9% membership interest. Upon completion, Atlas America expects to own 83% of the membership interests in Atlas Energy.

Atlas Energy plans to apply for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Atlas America focuses on gas in the Appalachian Basin. It also owns an 83% interest in Atlas Pipeline Holdings LP (NYSE: AHD), which owns a 2% general partner interest in Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: APL). UBS Investment Bank is book-running manager.



• Houston-based E&P GeoMet Inc. has priced its IPO of 5 million shares at $10 each on the Nasdaq exchange. The original price range was $10 to $12 each. The proposed symbol is GMET.

Banc of America Securities LLC was book-runner and lead manager. A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. and Raymond James & Associates Inc. were co-managers. Proceeds will be used to pay debt.

GeoMet is focused on coalbed methane in the Cahaba Basin in Alabama and the Appalachian Basin. It also controls some 178,000 net acres of coalbed-methane exploration and development rights primarily in north-central Louisiana, British Columbia, West Virginia and Colorado. At year-end 2005, it had 262.5 billion cu. ft. of estimated proved reserves.



• Superior Offshore International Inc., Lafayette, La., has filed for an IPO to raise up to $200 million. The number of shares, expected price range and stock symbol have not been determined yet.

Merrill Lynch & Co. and JPMorgan are underwriters. Proceeds will be used to pay debt and capex and for general corporate purposes.

Superior provides subsea construction and commercial diving services to the energy industry.



• BlackWatch Energy Services Trust, Calgary, (Toronto: BWT.UN) has completed its IPO of 2.5 million trust units at C$10 each for proceeds of C$25 million. An additional 4.1 million units were sold by third-party unit-holders in a secondary offering at C$10 each for gross proceeds to the unit-holders of C$41 million.

Blackmont Capital Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., National Bank Financial Inc. and Raymond James Ltd. were agents.

Net proceeds will be used to reduce debt that was used to buy six oil and gas service companies on Aug. 4, and for working capital. Any overallotment proceeds will go to reduce debt and forworking capital.

BlackWatch is an open-end investment trust that, through subsidiary BlackWatch Energy Services Operating LP, provides oil and gas services in Western Canada.



• Natural Gas Partners, Irving, Texas, has named Tony R. Weber managing director. Weber joined NGP in 2004 as principal and director of corporate finance. NGP managing partner Ken Hersh says, "Tony has been a great asset to the entire NGP enterprise and we are proud to welcome him into the partnership...."



• Lisa Stewart, executive vice president of El Paso Corp. (NYSE: EP) and president of El Paso E&P Co., planned to leave the company Sept. 1 to join private-equity firm Warburg Pincus.

"I hate to lose Lisa," says El Paso chief executive and president Doug Foshee. "She has been a great friend, colleague and executive for El Paso. But the future of 'Team El Paso' is brighter than at any time in my tenure here...."

Previously, Stewart was an executive vice president with Houston-based Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA).



• Bernard J. Picchi has joined the institutional-services division of New York-based Wall Street Access as senior managing director, energy research. Picchi was with Foresight Research Solutions as a senior managing director, covering oil and emerging energy companies. Wall Street Access' institutional-services division research focuses on healthcare and energy, as well as M&A.



• CIT Group Inc., New York, (NYSE: CIT) a global provider of commercial and consumer finance, has named John Sullivan managing director, energy capital markets. Drew Carleton has been named a senior associate, also focusing on energy capital markets.

Sullivan was managing director of loan syndications, trading and placement, and head of energy, commodity export and project finance syndications at BNP Paribas, and a director of oil and gas investment banking and loan syndications at Barclays Plc. Carleton worked with Sullivan at BNP Paribas and at Barclays Capital, focusing on energy-related businesses.

Brooks Klimley, president of CIT Energy, says, "As we complete the build-out of CIT Energy, the addition of John and Drew to our team will greatly enhance our ability to source and close energy financing transactions in a lead capacity...."

The pair has led more than $35 billion in energy-related transactions. The CIT group has completed nearly $400 million in new financings since the first of the year.



• Exxel Energy Corp., Vancouver, (Toronto: EXX) has named Clifford V. Adams chief executive and president; Michael Lou executive vice president, finance, and chief financial officer; and Victor Barcot executive vice president, business development and investor relations. The current chairman, CEO and president, John R. Hislop, will remain as chairman.

Adams was head of the global oil and gas group for Macquarie Securities (USA) Inc. in Houston. Previously, he held investment-banking positions with Banc of America Securities, Petrie Parkman & Co. and Energy Capital Solutions. Lou and Barcot were associate directors with Macquarie's oil and gas group, and they were vice presidents, energy investment banking, at First Albany Capital.



• Houston-based NGP Capital Resources Co. (Nasdaq: NGPC) has closed a $30-million senior-secured credit facility with privately held Fort Worth, Texas-based Rubicon Energy Partners LLC to acquire and develop oil and gas assets in the Permian and Fort Worth basins in Texas.

Initial availability is $23 million, with approximately $22 million funded at closing. NGPC, through subsidiary NGPC Asset Holdings II LP, purchased 4,000 (50%) of Rubicon's membership units for $4 million.

NGPC has now committed and made available for funding a total of $191 million to 10 portfolio companies, with approximately $167 million currently outstanding. Since inception, NGPC has funded a total of $213 million to portfolio companies representing 87% of its original $244 million of equity capital.

• Starwood Energy Group Global LLC, Greenwich, Conn., the energy-investment arm of Starwood Capital Group Global LLC, has named Brad Nordholm chief executive and managing director. He was CEO of Tyr Energy Inc., an energy-asset management firm he co-founded in 2002. Starwood Energy focuses on investing in energy and power.



• Chart Industries Inc., Garfield Heights, Ohio, has filed for an IPO of 12.5 million shares at a price range of $19 to $21 each for proceeds of $233.8 million to pay debt and a dividend to stockholders.

A portion will be received by certain executive officers and other members of management. Chart is a global manufacturer of gas production, storage and end-use equipment.

Lehman Brothers Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and UBS Investment Bank are lead underwriters. Howard Weil Inc., Natexis Bleichroeder Inc. and Simmons & Co. International are also underwriters.



• Calgary-based Trident Resources Corp. has filed with the SEC for an IPO. The exchange, number of shares and price range have not been determined yet. Proceeds will be used for working capital, general corporate purposes and possibly acquisitions.

Credit Suisse Securities, Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and TD Securities are lead underwriters. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. is also an underwriter.

Trident focuses on coalbed-methane resources in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It has properties in Alberta, British Columbia, Washington and other areas in the northwestern U.S.



• Win Energy Corp., Calgary, has closed its IPO of 8.4 million units at C$2 each and 3.3 million flow-through common shares at C$2.40 each for gross proceeds of C$24.8 million. The shares are trading on the Toronto exchange as WNR.

Win Energy focuses on gas exploration in the southern Alberta foothills. CIBC World Markets Inc., Jennings Capital Inc., Canaccord Capital Corp. and GMP Securities LP were underwriters.



• Alberta-based service company North American Energy Partners Inc. plans to file for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange for proceeds of C$250 million. The number of shares and the price range have not been determined yet.

NAEP provides mining and site preparation and pipeline-installation services to oil and gas companies. Credit Suisse First Boston, UBS Investment Bank and Jefferies & Co. will be underwriters.



• Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) is less likely to pursue an IPO of subsidiary KBR, management said in a conference call. Halliburton filed for an IPO of the unit in April.

The company is still committed to a complete separation of KBR from Halliburton through other means, such as a tax free spin-off to shareholders, within the next nine months, management adds.

Standard & Poor's reports that the announcement has no impact on Halliburton's ratings (BBB+/Stable/A-2), which don't incorporate benefits of a total spin-off or successful IPO.



• El Paso Corp., Houston, (NYSE: EP) has reached settlements of class-action and derivative lawsuits filed by purchasers of El Paso securities between Feb. 22, 2000, and Feb. 17, 2004. El Paso and its insurers will pay a total of $273 million; El Paso's share is $48 million.



• Houston-based E&P Houston American Energy Corp. has graduated from the Bulletin Board and is trading on the Amex as HGO. The company focuses on properties in the onshore Gulf Coast region, principally Texas and Louisiana, and on developing concessions in Colombia.



• Evolution Petroleum Corp., Houston, formerly Natural Gas Systems Inc., is now trading on the American Stock Exchange as EPM. It had traded on the Bulletin Board.

EPC acquires and develops mature oil and gas resources and owns interests in a planned enhanced oil-recovery project in Delhi Field in northeast Louisiana and a 100% working interest in other fields in north-central Louisiana.



• The American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Society of Exploration Geophysicists and Society of Petroleum Engineers have formed a joint-search information service at LookUpstream.org that allows a simultaneous, free search of the technical libraries of all three organizations, totaling nearly 100,000 technical papers.



• An age-diverse group of energy professionals gathered at a Young Professionals in Energy (YPE) meeting in Houston recently, where Houston Mayor Bill White, an oil-company executive himself, addressed the crowd on energy-industry opportunities.

"I see that for some of you it is a stretch," he told older attendees of their presence at a YPE gathering, and who were there to support the organization. "Or you're looking for employees."

Attendees included First Reserve Corp. director Bill Macaulay, Guggenheim Partners director Tim Murray, ATP Oil & Gas Corp. executive Al Reese, and Norsk Hydro (NYSE: NHY) executive Helge Haldorsen.

Sponsors included Vinson & Elkins LLP, Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA), Citigroup, Petrie Parkman & Co., UBS, NGP Capital Resources Co., McGriff Seibels & Williams of Texas Inc., Energy XXI, Lime Rock Partners, First Reserve Corp. and Cadent Energy Partners. For more information on YPE, a newly formed organization, go to YPEenergy.org.



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