• Quest Resource Corp., Oklahoma City, (Nasdaq: QRCP) plans to IPO an MLP of its coalbed-methane properties in the Cherokee Basin of southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. The company's gathering system, owned and operated by Quest Midstream Partners LP, and undeveloped acreage leased by Quest Resource outside the Cherokee Basin will not be part of the MLP. Net proceeds from the IPO will be used to pay a portion of existing debt.



• Abraxas Petroleum Corp., San Antonio, (Amex: ABP) has formed an MLP, Abraxas Energy Partners LP, that holds some of its assets in South and West Texas. The assets had estimated proved reserves of 65 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent at year-end 2006 and account for approximately 85% of Abraxas' daily production.

Abraxas will own a roughly 47% interest in the MLP. The general partner, Abraxas General Partner LLC, will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Abraxas.

Buying 53% of the MLP, via a $100-million private placement, are Lehman Brothers MLP Opportunity Fund LP and Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Third Point LLC and funds managed by Fiduciary Asset Management LLC, Merrill Lynch Commodity Partners LP and Tortoise Capital Resources Corp. Net proceeds will be used to pay debt, fund future drilling and general corporate purposes.



• Dallas-based Swank Energy Income Advisors LP has filed an N-2 to IPO 50,000 shares of The Cushing MLP Total Return Fund, a new, non-diversified, closed-end investment trust at $20 each, raising some $1 million. The underwriter is Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. At least 80% of its managed assets will be in units of public and private energy MLPs and LLCs, general partners and managers. The fund will be managed by Swank Energy, run by Jerry V. Swank.

Swank formed Swank Capital LLC in 2000 to provide energy research to institutional investors. Previously he was with John S. Herold Inc. as president, with Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. in institutional-equity and fixed-income sales, and an analyst and portfolio manager with Mercantile Texas Corp.

Swank Energy partners and associates are Mark W. Fordyce, formerly of PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG; Daniel L. Spears, formerly an energy investment banker with Banc of America Securities LLC and Salomon Smith Barney; Brian D. Watson, a former senior research associate with RBC Capital Markets covering the diversified energy and MLP sectors, and an investment banker with Prudential Capital Group and Stephens Inc.; and G. Paul Ferguson, a former energy-equity research analyst at Frost Securities Inc., covering midstream energy services, and in risk management for Allegro Development, an operations engineer with Koch Gateway Pipeline Co. and Delhi Gas Pipeline Corp., and a petroleum engineer with Kerr-McGee Corp.

Additionally with Swank Energy are Kevin P. Gallagher, a senior research associate with RBC Capital Markets covering diversified energy and MLPs, and previously with GMAC-RFC; and John W. Cutler, managing general partner of investment partnership PAR Associates Inc. and vice president in the research group at Herold.



• Paul Bragg's blank-check, Houston-based oilfield-services company Vantage Energy Services Inc. has priced its IPO of 34.5 million units at $8 each and is now trading on Amex as VTG-U. The book-runner was Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. Vantage also privately placed 375,000 units at $8 each and 3 million warrants at $1 each. The IPO will raise total gross proceeds of $276 million. Units were trading at press time at $8.14.

Initial expectations, when filed in November, were of raising $100 million in a 12.5-million-unit offering. Targeted businesses are across the oilfield-service chain from seismic to well services. Vantage may also invest in E&P.

Bragg is chairman and chief executive of Vantage, and formerly CEO of driller Pride International Inc. Christopher G. DeClaire is chief financial officer, and is president of DeClaire Interests Inc., a private investment and consulting firm. He was a principal and managing director of Odyssey Capital LLC, an investment banking and private-equity firm.



• Continental Resources Inc., Enid, Okla., (NYSE: CLR) priced its IPO of 29.5 million shares at $15 each in a total deal valued at $442.5 million. Continental sold 8.9 million shares and chairman, chief executive and principal shareholder Harold Hamm sold 20.7 million shares. Hamm has a 4.4-million-share overallotment outstanding.

Continental intends to use net proceeds from its portion to pay revolving credit-facility debt. Continental has assets primarily in the Rockies and Midcontinent. JP Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch were book-running managers. Citi, UBS Securities LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Raymond James & Associates were co-managers.



• Pinnacle Gas Resources Inc., Sheridan, Wyo., (Nasdaq: PINN) has priced its IPO of 3.75 million shares at $9 each in a total deal valued at $33.8 million. Certain shareholders have a 562,500-share overallotment outstanding.

Pinnacle has coalbed-methane properties on 417,000 gross acres in the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming and southern Montana and in the Green River Basin in southern Wyoming. Net proved reserves are approximately 27 billion cu. ft. of gas.

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. was book-running manager and RBC Capital Markets Corp., A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. and Johnson Rice & Co. LLC were co-managers.



• SandRidge Energy Inc. (fka Riata Energy Inc.), Oklahoma City, has formally withdrawn its IPO plan. The company, in which Chesapeake Energy Corp. co-founder Tom Ward took a major stake last year, had planned to list on the NYSE prior to Ward taking an equity-holding, and purchasing Dallas-based NEG Oil & Gas LLC for $1.5 billion.

The SandRidge shares were expected to price at some $17 each and result in gross proceeds of approximately $276 million. SandRidge has assets in the Permian Basin of West Texas and the Piceance Basin of Colorado. Proved developed reserves are 10.3 million bbl. of oil and 256 billion cu. ft. of gas, after the NEG acquisition.



• Bois d'Arc Energy Inc., Houston, (NYSE: BDE) has retained Scotia Waterous and Raymond James & Associates to evaluate strategic alternatives for the company. Its assets are offshore Louisiana and Texas, including interests in 44 oil wells and 67 gas wells. Proved reserves at year-end 2006 were approximately 344 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent. Comstock Resources Inc., Frisco, Texas, (NYSE: CRK) holds approximately 50% of Bois shares.



• Swift Energy Co. (NYSE: SFY) Houston, is seeking strategic alternatives for its New Zealand operating unit Swift Energy New Zealand Ltd. The assets consist of two producing areas at Rimu/Kauri and Tawn, both onshore in the Taranaki Basin on the north island. Proved reserves as of Dec. 31 were approximately 106 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent. Swift Energy New Zealand also maintains and operates two gas-processing plants, an oil-processing plant, and oil and gas pipelines. With its efforts at Lake Washington and elsewhere in Louisiana, Swift has become the No. 1 oil producer in Louisiana.



• Houston-based EnerVest Management Partners Ltd. has closed EnerVest Energy Institutional Fund XI LP with equity commitments of some $1 billion to acquire upstream oil and gas properties and companies in North America. Fund XI is the largest private-equity fund in the 15-year history of EnerVest.

The fund is comprised of 75 institutional investors, including several large, prominent endowments, foundations, pension funds, fund of funds and insurance companies. With some leverage, Fund XI is expected to have total purchasing power of $1.4 billion, a 107% increase from Fund X, which was closed in July 2005.

"We have reached several milestones already this year, and the closing of this fund will enable us to continue our growth," says John Walker, EnerVest president and chief executive. "Throughout our 15 years, and through many cycles in our industry, we have maintained our disciplined and creative approach to acquisitions. That will not change with Fund XI."

EnerVest acquires, develops and operates oil and gas fields for institutional investors. Since January 2005, it has announced more than $2 billion in acquisitions and $467 million in divestitures. It operates approximately 11,500 wells in 11 states. It is also the controlling general partner of EV Energy Partners LP (Nasdaq: EVEP), which was formed in September 2006.



• Trond Rokholt has been named managing director for Jefferies Finance LLC. He was head of the U.S. loan syndication group at Fortis Capital, focusing on energy transactions, head of energy investment banking at BancBoston and managing director in the natural resources group at ING. Rokholt is joined by vice presidents Henry B. Lang, formerly of Fortis, and Nicholas P. Whitcombe, formerly of CIT. The team is based in New York.



• Boston- and Houston-based Denham Capital Management is the new name of Sowood Capital Management's private-equity business. Denham will have $2.3 billion of assets under management in commodities-based businesses, including oil and gas, energy-related infrastructure, power, coal, metals, mining and timber. Currently, the $1.24-billion Denham Commodity Partners Fund IV has committed $467 million, $223 million of that related to the E&P, oil-service and midstream sectors. Carl Tricoli is senior managing director and head of Denham's natural resources group in Houston. Bill Zartler is also senior managing director and head of the company's infrastructure group.



• OilSands Canada Corp., Toronto, a portfolio company of Toronto-based Middlefield Group, has priced its IPO at C$10 per unit. CIBC World Markets Inc. and RBC Capital Markets were co-lead agents with BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., TD Securities Inc., Canaccord Capital Corp., Raymond James Ltd., Dundee Securities Corp., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., Blackmont Capital Inc., Wellington West Capital Inc., Berkshire Securities Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., Middlefield Capital Corp., Research Capital Corp. and Richardson Partners Financial Ltd.



• New York-based investment banker Dahlman Rose & Co. LLC has started an E&P and oilfield-services practice based in New Orleans. Stanley E. Ellington Jr. is managing director heading the new group. He was managing director, corporate finance, for Capital One Southcoast Inc., raising equity capital for various energy companies, and vice president and chief financial officer at Production Management Cos. Inc., a privately held oilfield-services company.

Michael R. Uffman and Earl A. Stolz III have been named vice presidents, investment banking in the E&P group. Both were with Ellington at Capital One Southcoast. Simon Rose, Dahlman Rose chief executive, says, "Our decision to locate this new group in New Orleans reflects the city's long tradition of serving energy companies and status as an important energy port city."



• Bob Stone has retired from Whitney Bank Corp. He led the bank's energy-lending group at headquarters in New Orleans. Senior energy lender Trudy Nelson recently left the bank in New Orleans to join Bank of Scotland's energy team in Houston, working with Rex McSwain and Terry Rainoshek.



• Phil McPherson has resigned as director of research for C.K. Cooper & Co., Irvine, Calif., to pursue an entrepreneurial opportunity. The investment firm has suspended coverage of all issues while seeking a replacement.



• New York-based investment bank Houlihan Lokey has acquired energy M&A advisory boutique Baxter Energy Partners LLC, New York, for an undisclosed price. Baxter Energy has experience with majors, large-cap producers and downstream. The deal is to help grow Houlihan Lokey's energy platform.

Baxter Energy founder and managing partner Scott Baxter has been named managing director, corporate finance, for Houlihan Lokey. Baxter was once Americas head for JP Morgan's global energy investment-banking group.

Houlihan Lokey co-chairman Bob Hotz says, "We are committed to finding meaningful ways to expand our industry coverage and grow our business. Scott has successfully advised energy companies and executed a number of large-scale energy transactions, and has built a reputation as a trusted advisor to CEOs in the energy sector."



• Stonehenge Growth Capital, the principal investment group of Stonehenge Capital Co. LLC, has raised a $200-million, junior-debt investment fund, bringing its total assets under management to $735 million. Stonehenge Growth Capital Fund targets privately held, lower middle-market businesses with a variety of debt structures of up to $20 million per transaction for working capital, buyouts, recapitalizations and acquisitions.

SGC partners include David Kocen, Andrew Aye and Nemesio J. Viso. SGC invests in many industries, including the energy-services sector. Viso says, "This fund bolsters our capacity and flexibility to meet the growing needs of our existing and prospective client base of marine-, oilfield- and petrochemical-service companies. These increasingly capital-intensive sectors will continue to be a strong focus of our investment activity across SGC's energy-belt offices in Louisiana, Texas and Colorado." Stonehenge's offices are in Baton Rouge, La.; Denver; Dallas; Tampa, Fla.; and New York.



• White Plains, N.Y.-based Icahn Management LP has acquired 3.1 million shares of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., The Woodlands, Texas, (NYSE: APC) in a deal valued at $133.4 million. The investment represents a small stake in the company. No word from Carl Icahn on whether he is planning to develop a significant holding in the company. Icahn took a significant holding in Kerr-McGee Corp. two years ago and pressured management into rationalizing its portfolio, ultimately resulting in Kerr-McGee's sale to Anadarko last year.

• Chesapeake Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, (NYSE: CHK) broke new ground and made history recently when it spud the first of more than 300 projected Barnett shale wells at DFW International Airport. In 2006, DFW officials awarded Chesapeake the exclusive rights on 18,000 acres of contiguous land beneath the airport, representing the single-largest undrilled gas lease in the entire Barnett shale play, and the first gas lease at a major U.S. international airport.

A 364-pound gold-foiled drillbit was used to mark the initiation of drilling activity, with Chesapeake and DFW officials in attendance. Chesapeake is one of the top producers in the Barnett shale, operating more than 450 wells in the area. It will invest more than $1.2 billion in the Barnett in 2007 to drill 400 wells.

Other high-profile leases it has acquired in the past year include transactions with Spinks Airport, Colonial Country Club, General Motors Assembly Plant, Bell Helicopter, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Area Rapid Transit and numerous independent school districts.



• The Exploration Co., San Antonio, (Nasdaq: TXCO) plans to change its name to TXCO Resources Inc. "Our new name better reflects the broader opportunities we have today to create shareholder value," says chairman, president and chief executive Jim Sigmon. "We have gained new development and exploitation potential that was not reflected in the name that has served us for more than 25 years. We have become a larger and more diverse organization." The name change comes while The Houston Exploration Co., Houston, (NYSE: THE) has been acquired by Forest Oil Corp. (NYSE: FST) and ceased to trade. The two companies at one time negotiated differentiation in their names to reduce market confusion.



• Fort Worth's Texas Christian University has formed a multidisciplinary energy institute, according to Michael McCracken, dean of TCU's College of Science and Engineering. Classes will begin this fall. The energy institute will offer undergrad and graduate courses in geology, engineering, environmental science and drilling technologies, and a petroleum landman certificate program. In March, TCU named Four Sevens Resources Co. of Fort Worth as its natural gas operator with the right to negotiate a Barnett shale gas lease on campus. The company's owners and managers include some TCU alumni.