Black Bear Midstream, a portfolio company of funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management LP, said Aug. 6 it had entered into a seven-year gas gathering and processing agreement with an unnamed Cotton Valley producer in Desoto and Caddo Parishes, La.

Black Bear Midstream is a gas gathering and processing company focused on providing bespoke midstream solutions for producers in Louisiana and East Texas drilling the Cotton Valley and Haynesville formations. The company has a high-pressure gathering system providing dry and rich gas gathering with several interstate natural gas connections along with a 40-mile NGL pipeline connecting its 140 million standard cubic feet per day cryogenic gas processing plant to NGL markets in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

“We continue to execute on our strategy to provide both lean and rich gas gathering services in support of our customers drilling both Haynesville and Cotton Valley formations in North Louisiana,” said Black Bear president and CEO Rich DiMichele. “The relationship we’ve built with this and other producers keeps us excited about the area and confirms our belief that we can continue attracting production to Black Bear’s competitive, high-optionality services.”

Black Bear will build about 20 miles of 16 inch, rich gas gathering pipe to the west of its DeSoto Parish cryogenic processing plant to support both this contract and other producers on both sides of the Louisiana and Texas border.

“We’re very happy and humbled that producers continue trust us to jointly pursue their growth plans,” said Travis Boeker, Black Bear’s executive vice president - commercial. “We’ve been methodically expanding our service offerings and customer base since our team began managing Black Bear in 2016. We’re fortunate to be in a position to continue expanding the business both geographically and in our high-value service offerings.”

Oaktree is a leader among global investment managers specializing in alternative investments, with $120 billion in assets under management as of June 30. The firm emphasizes an opportunistic, value-oriented and risk-controlled approach to investments in credit, private equity, real assets and listed equities.

Onshore