• New York-based investment firm Third Point LLC is asking Pogo Producing Co.'s (NYSE: PPP) board to sell the company. Third Point holds 4 million Pogo shares, or a 7.2% stake. Daniel Loeb, Third Point chief executive, says Pogo management has failed to pursue cohesive exploration, development, acquisition and financial plans.

"In the one and a half decades you have run Pogo, shareholders have suffered subpar returns," Loeb has written to the board. "Your track record is long and meager, and it is time for change...." Pogo had not responded at press time.



• Celero Energy Co. LP, Fort Worth, Texas, has been formed to acquire oil and gas producing properties and reserves in North America with a $1-billion private-equity placement by Irving, Texas-based Natural Gas Partners VIII LP and other investors.

Founders include chairman, chief executive and president Jack Hightower, executive vice president and chief operating officer Rodney Woodard and executive vice president and chief financial officer Bruce Selkirk. The trio sold Celero Energy Partners LP's assets to Whiting Petroleum Corp., Denver, (NYSE: WLL) in July 2005 for $802 million.

Hightower says, "The combination of our employees' extensive experience and the capital strength provided by such a well-respected group of investors allows us the opportunity to build another successful oil and gas company."

Selkirk says, "This is one of the largest private placements for an E&P start-up in the history of the business. As such, we have already begun evaluating several very interesting investment opportunities."



• Merrill Lynch, New York, (NYSE: MER) has acquired energy investment-banking and M&A advisory firm Petrie Parkman & Co., Denver and Houston, for an undisclosed price. Co-founder Tom Petrie has been named a vice chairman of Merrill Lynch. Petrie Parkman is now part of the energy and power group within Merrill Lynch's global markets and investment-banking business, and now is named Merrill Lynch Petrie Divestiture Advisors.

Petrie says, "When these resources are aligned with our shared emphasis on long-term relationships, it will enable us to provide expanded, world-class services to energy companies and investors."

Merrill Lynch, Americas investment banking head Victor Nesi says, "The acquisition of Petrie Parkman will create one of the strongest energy investment-banking teams on Wall Street, by combining Merrill Lynch's world-class energy bankers with the specialized E&P expertise of Petrie Parkman."

Keefe Bruyette & Woods was financial advisor to Petrie Parkman.



• Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP, Houston, has closed its fourth energy private-equity fund with total commitments of $950 million. The new fund will focus on early to midstage North American oil and gas companies with typical investments ranging from $10- to $100 million. The Kayne Anderson energy private-equity team manages more than $1.8 billion of the $6.7 billion in assets in the firm's portfolio.



• Atlas America Inc., Philadelphia, (Nasdaq: ATLS) E&P subsidiary Atlas Energy Resources LLC has priced its IPO of 6.33 million units $21.00 each. It is trading on the NYSE as ATN. Atlas Energy focuses on E&P in the Appalachian Basin. UBS Investment Bank was book-running manager and A.G. Edwards and Wachovia Securities were joint-lead managers. RBC Capital Markets, Friedman Billings Ramsey, KeyBanc Capital Markets, Credit Suisse, Sanders Morris Harris and Stifel Nicolaus were co-managers.



• Teekay Offshore Partners LP, a subsidiary of Teekay Shipping Corp., (NYSE: TK) has filed for an IPO of 7 million shares at $19 to $21 each. The proposed symbol is TOO. Proceeds will be used to pay debt.

Teekay Offshore provides marine transportation and storage services to the offshore oil industry. After the IPO, it will own a 26% interest in Teekay Offshore Operating LP, which owns and operates a fleet of shuttle tankers, floating storage and offtake (or FSO) units and double-hull conventional oil tankers. Teekay Shipping will own the balance.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Merrill Lynch are lead underwriters. A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., DnB NOR Markets Inc., Fortis Securities LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., Raymond James & Associates Inc. and Simmons & Co. International are also underwriters for this deal.



• Barclays Capital, the investment-banking division of Barclays Bank Plc, has named Vincent Breitenbach managing director and head of credit research, Americas, based in New York. He was a managing director at Countrywide Financial Corp. and Lehman Brothers in corporate-bond research.



• C. Glenn Harrison has been named senior vice president and manager of petroleum engineers at Wells Fargo Bank. Previously, he was a consulting engineer with Glenn Harrison Petroleum Consultants.



• Private-equity firm Lime Rock Partners has named Saad Bargach managing director of the firm's Houston office. He was chief information officer with Schlumberger Ltd., Sugar Land, Texas.



• Mary Safrai has joined California-based investment banker C.K. Cooper & Co. in New York, initially covering American Oil & Gas (Amex: AEZ), NGAS Resources (Nasdaq: NGAS), Teton Energy Corp. (Amex: TEC) and Whittier Energy Corp. (Nasdaq: WHIT). The firm now covers 17 small-cap energy stocks. Safrai was with Carl H. Pforzheimer & Co.



• First Reserve Fund VIII LP, managed by private-equity firm First Reserve Corp., Greenwich, Conn., has sold approximately 50% of its interest in T-3 Energy Services Inc., Houston (Nasdaq: TTES). The 4.5-million-share sale reduced its stake from 84.8% to 44.3%. T-3 provides drilling, completion, workover, production and transportation services. First Reserve remains T-3's largest stockholder. The increased public float is to enhance liquidity.

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