• Occidental Petroleum Corp., Los Angeles, (NYSE: OXY) has signed an agreement to purchase oil and gas trading firm Phibro LLC from Citigroup Inc. for “approximately net asset value,” adding the firm to its midstream business, including gas liquids, power, pipeline and existing trading. Oxy expects its net investment to be about $250 million.

Phibro’s assets consist of cash, marketable securities and readily saleable commodity positions. “Phibro does not trade in any exotic derivatives or hold any Level Three-type assets,” according to Oxy.

Phibro’s management team, led by Andrew Hall, and its employees will remain with Phibro. Senior management has agreed to make “a significant investment” and receive returns based on performance.

“Additionally, significant portions of current and future bonuses will be deferred and retained by Phibro and paid out in future years,” Oxy reports. “These future payouts will be adjusted to reflect Phibro’s results during that period.”

From 1997 until second-quarter 2009, Phibro averaged approximately $200 million per year in pre-tax earnings; during the past five years, its earnings averaged $371 million per year. “Phibro has been profitable each fiscal year since 1997, attaining profitability in 80% of all quarters,” reports Oxy.

The deal is to close by year-end. Oxy will support Phibro credit, it adds.

• Resaca Exploitation Inc., Houston, (London AIM: RSOX, RSX) plans to acquire Fort Worth, Texas-based Cano Petroleum Inc., (NYSE Amex: CFW) for approximately US$76 million in stock.

Resaca will pay 2.1 shares per Cano share for an implied $1.67 per share for a 32% premium over the 30-day weighted average. Cano shareholders will own approximately 50% of the combined company. Based on the Resaca closing price on Sept. 28, the transaction implies a deal value of US$3.34 per proved BOE.

Cano proved reserves are 49.1 million BOE (21% proved developed; 79% oil) with probable reserves of 13.9 million bbl. of oil focused in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Production as of July 1 was 1,309 BOE per day.

Pro forma, the company will have an estimated 63.2 million BOE of proved reserves (81% oil). Net production will be approximately 1,960 net BOE per day as of July 1. Resaca’s properties are in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

The combined company will retain the Resaca name, will be headquartered in Houston, and will be led by current Resaca chairman J.P. Bryan, who will become CEO upon completion of the transaction. The combined company’s board will consist of four directors from Resaca and three from Cano. The company will continue to trade on the London AIM market. Resaca’s shares that trade on the AIM under the current ticker RSOX will be traded under ticker symbol RSX. Resaca will also obtain a NYSE Amex listing as a condition of closing.

• Delphi Midstream Partners LLC plans to acquire the gas-gathering and -compression Mansfield system in Tarrant County, Texas, from Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc., Houston, (Nasdaq: CRZO) for an undisclosed price. Delphi may invest up to an additional $100 million to develop midstream infrastructure in northeastern Pennsylvania to support Carrizo’s Marcellus development plan.

Delphi CEO Thomas Karam says, “Delphi’s…relationships and capital will allow us to develop much-needed midstream infrastructure in northeastern Pennsylvania quickly and also cost-effectively.”

• American Oil & Gas Inc., Denver, (Amex: AEZ) plans to acquire approximately 16,000 net acres in Williams County, N.D., from Evertson Energy Partners, Kimball, Neb., for an undisclosed price. The deal will increase American’s interest in the Bakken/Three Forks play to 76,000 net acres.

American chairman and chief executive Pat O’Brien says, “We are pleased to be able to add to our Bakken and Three Forks acreage position in such a meaningful manner and on very attractive terms. Similar to our Goliath acreage position, our geological evaluation of this additional acreage shows productive potential from both the Bakken and the Three Forks formations. We plan to begin our Bakken/Three Forks drilling operations this fall.”

The deal was expected to close by the end of October.

• Pengrowth Corp., administrator of Pengrowth Energy Trust, Calgary, (Toronto: PGF-UN NYSE: PGH) plans to acquire assets in the Horn River Basin shale-gas play in northeastern British Columbia from an undisclosed seller for C$11 million.

Pengrowth will acquire 28,842 acres (approximately 43 net sections) of undeveloped land for C$9 million and pay the vendor C$2 million for its interest in a standing cased well bore.

The deal includes prospects in both the Muskwa and Evie shale deposits. Pengrowth will have a 10% interest in the Dilly Creek block and a 100% interest in Moss Creek and in the Gunnell Creek lands, where Pengrowth participated in the a-87-C 94-P-4 well, encountering approximately 50 meters of gas-bearing Evie shale.

The acquired lands will complement Pengrowth’s existing interests in the central part of the Horn River Basin. Pengrowth’s lands are near the Spectra Fort Nelson plant, the Spectra pipeline and the proposed EnCana cabin facility.

Pro forma, Pengrowth will hold 73,147 net acres (approximately 113 net sections), the ninth-largest acreage position in the Horn River Basin.

Pengrowth president and chief executive Derek Evans says, “Pengrowth’s increased operated presence in a highly attractive emerging shale-gas play is consistent with the trust’s strategy of pursuing resource plays with the potential of achieving predictable, repeatable and scalable results.”

• Bayside Petroleum Co. Inc., Dallas, (Pink Sheets: BYSD) has acquired Dallas-based Nueces Valley Resources Inc. for an undisclosed price. Nueces Valley held producing oil interests in South Texas and northeastern Kansas. Bayside expects to begin a remedial program on certain wells located on the South Texas properties after an initial study. Also, Bayside anticipates increasing the daily production from the more than 200 wells on the Kansas properties by redesigning the enhanced-oil-recovery procedures on these wells.

• Admiral Bay Resources Inc., Centennial, Colo., (Toronto Venture: ADB) has retained FIG Partners LLC Energy Research & Capital Group to seek strategic alternatives, including a possible merger.

The company executed an amendment to its credit agreement with GasRock Capital LLC and DK Acquisition Partners LP that allowed for partial payment-in-kind interest for four months ending in October.

Admiral Bay holds interests in the Cherokee Basin in southeastern Kansas and the Appalachian Basin in Pennsylvania. The company is developing five gas projects in the Cherokee Basin, including Shiloh, Devon, Thayer, Mound Valley, Swordfish and Santa Rita, involving more than 150,000 acres. In Cambria County, Pa., Admiral Bay has a 50% working interest in the Revloc Project, a coalbed-methane project involving 6,000 acres in the Marcellus shale. Proved reserves are approximately 49.4 billion cu. ft. equivalent (180 billion proved, probable and possible). Production is approximately 4.4 million cu. ft. per day.

Admiral Bay president and chief executive Steven Tedesco says, “While we continue to have the support of our lenders as evidenced by the recent amendment, we are looking to evaluate potential alternatives in the current gas- price environment to restructure the balance sheet to allow for continued growth of the company while improving our cost structure and liquidity.”