Houston-based, privately owned Common Resources LLC has received up to $500 million in line-of-equity commitments from New York-based private-equity firm Pine Brook Road Partners LLC ($125 million) and Houston-based private-equity firm EnCap Investments LP ($375 million).

Common Resources is to focus on conventional and nonconventional plays on the Gulf Coast, and in West Texas and the Midcontinent.

Roger Jarvis is chairman and chief executive, Elliot Pew is president and chief operating officer and Robert Snell is chief financial officer.

Jarvis founded Gulf of Mexico-focused E&P company Spinnaker Exploration Co. with private-equity backing from Warburg Pincus LLC, which was led at the time by now-Pine Brook president and CEO Howard Newman and by Pine Brook managing director Michael McMahon. Spinnaker was sold to Norsk Hydro ASA, Oslo, for $2.6 billion in 2005.

Pew was executive vice president, worldwide exploration, for Newfield Exploration Co., which was financed in 1990 by Newman and Warburg Pincus. Snell was CFO of Spinnaker.

Jarvis says, "Howard Newman and Michael McMahon were great partners as we built Spinnaker into one of the most successful exploration and production companies in the United States. When I decided to get back into the business, I sought them out to be my investors again."

Newman says, "We are tremendously pleased with the strong results we achieved with the company's three founders in the past, and we are excited to continue to work with this management team as they pursue their strategies to become a leading industry player in nonconventional resources."

The $125 million Pine Brook has committed is the fourth investment the fund has made since its founding in 2006 by Newman. Pine Brook has now committed $375 million total to Common Resources; Phoenix Exploration Co. LP, a shallow-water Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Coast-focused E&P company formed by ex-Gryphon Exploration Co. managers; Stonegate Production Co. LLC, an E&P company led by Mike Harvey, whose Gryphon was financed by Newman and Warburg Pincus; and Syndicate Holding Corp., a reinsurance firm that, as of year-end 2005, accounted for more than US$15.8 billion in run-off liabilities.

Harvey's Stonegate Production Co. LLC in Houston received $230 million of start-up capital from management and Pine Brook. Harvey's Gryphon Exploration was focused in the Gulf of Mexico. Gryphon was sold in 2005 to Woodside Energy (USA) Inc. for $297 million. Stonegate will focus onshore.

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