?• Houston-based, privately held Northstar Offshore Energy Partners LLC has been formed with an initial funding of $100 million of private equity from Natural Gas Partners IX LP and the management team. James P. (Jim) Ulm II, a former senior financial executive with Pogo Producing Co. and Newfield Exploration Co., has joined Northstar as chief financial officer and partner.
Matt McCarroll and Mike Moreno’s privately held, Houston-based Dynamic Offshore Resources LLC acquired Roberts’ Houston-based Northstar Exploration and Production Inc. and subsidiary Northstar GOM LLC for $235 million in July.
Northstar president Glynn Roberts says this entity represents the second generation of the Northstar team acquiring, drilling and operating in the Gulf of Mexico. The company will continue to be focused on exploration, development and acquisition of oil and gas opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico.?

• Transocean Inc., Houston, (NYSE: RIG) is moving its headquarters from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland. Transocean must get approval from its shareholders and a Cayman judge. If approved, the change could occur by year-end or early 2009.
Transocean will relocate 14 officers, including Transocean chief executive officer Bob Long and some support staff, to Geneva. Transocean’s operations will continue to be conducted through existing subsidiaries. Houston will continue to be the company’s largest office and will also continue to provide corporate, technical and support services to worldwide operations. Transocean will continue to be subject to SEC reporting rules, and the shares will continue to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange as RIG.

• Irvine, Calif.-based, energy investment banker C.K. Cooper & Co. has opened an office in Dallas led by branch manager Jason Gorsuch who joined the firm in 2002. Gorsuch says, “We are excited about the opportunity to be closer to many of our clients in Texas and look forward to building new relationships that fit our niche as a specialized wealth-management group.”

• Coker & Palmer Investment Securities has withdrawn coverage of all companies by the company’s research department after the analysts left the firm. The firm’s energy analysts were Michael Bodino, Brian Corales and Michael Glick. Information was not available on their new status as of press time.

• Barclays Capital is now a market-maker on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange following its acquisition of various assets of Lehman Brothers.?
Barclays Capital is market-maker for more than 400 NYSE-listed issues including 300 operating companies. In addition, it has employed the staff and taken over the technology of Lehman Brothers MarketMakers. Barclays also reports that it has completed the integration of Lehman Brothers’ U.S. foreign exchange and commodities businesses under the Barclays name and started trading. Barclays Capital is the investment-banking division of Barclays Bank Plc.

• BJ Services Co., Houston, (NYSE: BJS) has formed a global shale technology team to focus on research, development and delivery of solutions to customers in shale oil and gas reservoirs throughout the world, says Randy LaFollette, manager of shale technology for BJ Services. The group will support BJ’s U.S. and Canadian regional shale and add new technologies as they are identified.

• Cenovus Energy Inc. has been selected as the new name for the integrated oil company that EnCana Corp., Calgary, (NYSE: ECA) is creating as part of its split into two independent energy companies focused on unconventional resources—an integrated oil company and a pure-play gas company.

• BPZ Resources Inc., Houston, shares are now trading on the New York Stock Exchange as BPZ. The E&P company had traded on the American Stock Exchange as BZP. BPZ has exclusive license contracts for oil and gas E&P covering about 2.4 million acres in four properties in northwestern Peru. It also owns a minority working interest in a producing property in southwestern Ecuador.

• Midland, Texas-based Natural Gas Service Group Inc. plans to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock will continue to trade as NGS. The company’s stock was trading on the American Stock Exchange.

• Petroleum Development Corp. (Nasdaq: PETD) has moved its corporate headquarters from Bridgeport, W.Va., to Denver. The company’s accounting, eastern operations management, gas and oil marketing, human resources, information technology and other key functions are expected to continue to be based in Bridgeport.

Comments