After years of slimming its portfolio through divestitures and honing its operating focus, Houston-based El Paso Corp.'s E&P side of the business is now open to playing the acquisition game again, according to chief executive Doug Foshee. The purchase could be as small as a $5-million working interest up to more than $1 billion, Foshee says. Any acquisitions will likely be E&P-focused because of the regulatory red tape inherent in pipeline acquisitions, he adds. Any E&P purchases made during the next several quarters will probably be for resource plays, though Foshee says he would also consider attractive corporate acquisitions. Though a natural third leg for the company would be midstream, Foshee expects that type of deal would be tough to do in the near-term. "...Given the company's backlog of drilling projects coming up during the next five years, we won't be forced into making purchases. I think the bar is pretty high for us for acquisitions. For the first time in a long time, we've got enough organic growth capacity that we don't feel we have a gun to our head to go do an acquisition...." For more on this, see the August issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-260-6441.

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