© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(July 10) – In the past week, two Houston-based law firms have been involved in oil and gas deals that combined are worth more than $1 billion.
Andrews Kurth and Baker Botts this week announced their involvement in Houston-based Shell Midstream Partners’ $350 million purchase of a 36 percent ownership interest in Poseidon Oil Pipeline Company from Shell Oil subsidiary Equilon Enterprises.
The terms of the transaction were approved by the conflicts committee of the board of directors of the general partner of Shell Midstream, which Andrews Kurth represented. Houston partner Mike O’Leary led the deal, receiving assistance from Houston partner Robert McNamara; associates Shemin Proctor, Kayleigh McNelis, Morgan Kenner and Matthew Martin; and partners from the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.
In May, the same Andrews Kurth deal team represented Shell’s conflicts committee when it approved Shell Midstream’s $448 acquisition of interests in the Zydeco Pipeline Company and Colonial Pipeline Company from Shell Pipeline Company.
Equilon turned to Houston corporate partner Hillary Holmes of Baker Botts to lead its end of the Poseidon deal, which closed July 1. She received assistance from partner James Chenoweth and associates Jared Meier, Justine Robinson, Sarah Dodson and Sam Blons, all of whom are based in the firm’s Houston office.
Poseidon’s assets include a 367-mile offshore crude oil pipeline with 350,000 barrels per day that transports to key markets in Texas and Louisiana, ownership of strategic platform South Marsh Island 205 and access to major crude trading hubs.
Last week, FourPoint Energy, a privately-held E&P company based in Denver, agreed to acquire Western Anadarko Basin assets from Chesapeake Exploration and CHK Cleveland Tonkawa through three transactions with a combined value of $840 million.
Like Shell, FourPoint also turned to O’Leary to lead its end of the transaction. Also on the deal team were Houston partners Mark Young, Hal Haltom, Tom Ford and Allison Mantor; Dallas partner Kay Lynn Brumbaugh; and Houston associates Cindy Lin, Kayleigh McNelis, Alyssa Ladd, Ashley Muehlberger and Matt Martin.
In October Andrews Kurth advised FourPoint and Houston-based EnerVest when they purchased $1.95 billion worth of oil and gas properties and midstream assets from Linn Energy Holdings.
Chesapeake turned to a Houston team from Baker Botts to handle its end of the deal. Partner Jeremy Kennedy served as the lead attorney and received assistance from partners Tull Florey and Chad McCormick, associates Coleson Bruce, Brian Finch, John Craven, Travis Wofford, Chad McCormick and Jon Lobb.
FourPoint’s purchase from Chesapeake will give it access to ownership interests in approximately 1,500 producing wells in the Cleveland, Tokawa and Marmaton formations, as well as nearly 250,000 net acres in the Roger Mills and Ellis counties of Oklahoma.
Baker Botts has a history representing Chesapeake. Last year, it advised the Oklahoma City-based company on securing a $4 billion credit facility and execute a spinoff of its oilfield services operations. The new company, called Seventy Seven Energy, is valued at around $2.2 billion.
The FourPoint-Chesapeake transaction is set to close on Aug. 31.
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