Update: Akin Gump, Thompson & Knight and Kemp Smith Advise in $2.5B EOG-Yates Combination

© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.By Natalie Posgate (Sept. 6) – Houston-based EOG Resources said Tuesday that it is purchasing Yates Petroleum Corporation, a privately held, New Mexico-based energy company, in a cash and stock transaction valued at $2.5 billion. The deal will expand EOG’s presence in the Delaware Basin and Power River Basin. Yates has been around since 1924 and drilled the first commercial oil well in New Mexico state trust lands. Yates turned to Dallas partner Wes Williams of Thompson & Knight to lead its end of the deal. Dallas partner Jessica Hammons and Houston partners Hunter White and Roger Aksamit also worked on the deal. El Paso-based law firm Kemp Smith and the Modrall Sperling Law Firm in Albuquerque also advised Yates in the deal. The El Paso-based Kemp Smith deal team was led by partner Gene Wolf and included partner Mark Hedrick and associates Eddie Moreno, Bobby Maddox and Irina Barahona. EOG General Counsel Michael P. Donaldson turned to oil and gas partners John Goodgame and Andy Lehman of Akin Gump in Houston to lead EOG’s end of the deal. The Akin Gump deal team was entirely Houston-based and also included tax partners Thomas Weir and Alison…