• BP Amoco is seeking to buy the shares of publicly traded Vastar Resources Inc., Houston, that Atlantic Richfield Co. does not already own. BP Amoco's offer is valued at about $71 a share. Arco owns 82% of Vastar. Vastar has formed a special committee to evaluate BP Amoco's proposal. The special committee has retained Salomon Smith Barney Inc. and Petrie Parkman & Co. Inc. as financial advisors. • Bargo Energy Co., Houston, is buying oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin, East Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas from Texaco for $161.1 million. Current net production from the properties totals 9,000 bbl. of oil and 11 million cu. ft. of gas per day. Following the acquisition, Bargo will have proven reserves of approximately 70 million equivalent bbl. of oil. • North Coast Energy Inc., Twinsburg, Ohio, acquired Peake Energy Inc. from Belden & Blake Corp. for $72.5 million in cash. Peake Energy's properties in West Virginia and Kentucky contain 81 billion cu. ft. of proven gas reserves, 1,900 wells and more than 900 miles of gas gathering lines. The transaction makes North Coast one of the largest producers of gas in the Appalachian Basin. North Coast's assets in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky now include about 140 billion cu. ft. of proven gas reserves, 4,000 wells and 1,600 miles of gas gathering and transportation lines. Daily gross production will increase to more than 33 million cu. ft. of gas equivalent. Nuon NV, North Coast's majority stockholder and partner, financed the purchase of the stock of Peake Energy. • Duke Energy, Charlotte, N.C., plans to buy a 20% stake in Canadian 88 Energy Corp., Calgary, for cash, in a C$50-million deal, through its Duke Energy Hydrocarbons subsidiary. • Lundin Oil AB, Vancouver, is acquiring the shares of Red Sea Oil Corp. that it does not already own. Lundin currently owns 61% of Red Sea shares. Red Sea has a 60% interest in and is the operator of Area NC177 in Libya, including the undeveloped En Naga North and West oil fields. Lundin Oil has a 40% interest in Area NC177. • Southern Mineral Corp., Houston, has sold the interests of its Canadian subsidiary, Neutrino Resources Inc., in Inverness and Swan Hills fields in Alberta, for C$13.1 million. • Quicksilver Resources Inc., Fort Worth, has acquired, from CMS Oil & Gas Co., a subsidiary of CMS Energy Corp., all of CMS' E&P properties in Michigan, including the stock of Terra Energy Ltd., as well as other smaller interests in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The sale includes more than 180,000 net leasehold acres producing about 54,000 thousand cu. ft. net per day from the Antrim Shale, as well as from the Niagaran and Prairie du Chien formations. • Petro-Canada, Calgary, will exchange western Canadian conventional oil properties for interests in two of Husky Oil Operations Ltd. properties offshore Newfoundland. Petro-Canada will increase its working interest in the Terra Nova oil field development from 29% to 33.99%, and its working interest in White Rose will grow from 17.5% to 27.5%. Husky Oil will acquire all of Petro-Canada's interests in the Valhalla and Wapiti properties in northwestern Alberta. Husky Oil retains a 12.51% interest in Terra Nova and a 72.5% interest in White Rose, which it operates. Separately, Petro-Canada plans to sell the Pembina, Boundary Lake and Cactus Lake western Canadian conventional oil properties for net proceeds of $220 million to Renaissance Energy Ltd. The average daily production from the properties is about 5,500 BOE. • Energy Resource Technology Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cal Dive International, Houston, has acquired interests in six offshore blocks formerly owned by EEX Corp. and plans to operate the remaining EEX properties on the Outer Continental Shelf. The acquired offshore blocks include working interests of 40% to 75% in five platforms, one caisson and 13 wells currently producing 23 million cu. ft. of gas per day. ERT paid cash for the assets and assumed EEX's abandonment obligations. • Callon Petroleum Co., Natchez, Miss., will acquire a 20% working interest in the Cirrus and Entrada prospects in Gulf of Mexico deep water on Garden Banks blocks 782, 785, 826 and 827 from Vastar Resources Inc. • In a swap with Oxy USA Inc., EOG Resources Inc., Houston, received properties in the Logansport Field in North Louisiana and in East Texas adjacent to properties it already owns. The acquired properties produce about 33 million cu. ft. of gas and 3,000 bbl. of oil per day. In exchange, Oxy received fields in California's Sacramento Valley that produce 12 million cu. ft. of gas per day, mineral rights to about 700,000 acres in the state, and properties in the western Gulf of Mexico that produce about 26 million cu. ft. of gas per day. • Esenjay Exploration Inc., Houston, has sold a portion of its interest in its Raymondville exploration project, Willacy County, Texas, to Cody Texas LP for $10.9 million. Esenjay retains a 9.42% working interest in the project; Cody will become the operator. The assets are primarily undeveloped 3-D seismic-supported exploitation prospects and proved reserves. Drilling is expected to begin on the project in May. • Cross Timbers Oil Co., Fort Worth, has sold $25.3 million in producing properties primarily in Lea County, N.M., to Denver-based Falcon Creek Resources Inc. Daily production from the properties is 3.6 million cu. ft. of gas and 400 bbl. of oil. Separately, Cross Timbers sold $43 million in primarily gas-producing properties in Crockett County, Texas, to a private placement company. Daily production from the properties is 9.5 million cu. ft. of gas and 160 bbl. of oil from 298 wells. • Newfield Exploration Co., Houston, acquired three producing gas fields in Hidalgo, Brooks and Kenedy counties, South Texas, for $141.4 million. The fields are currently producing about 75 million cu. ft. equivalent per day to Newfield, which operates two of the three. • Crown Central Petroleum Corp., Baltimore, has received a proposal from Apex Oil Co. Inc., a Missouri corporation, to acquire Crown for $9.20 per share. Apex already owns 14.7% of Crown's Class A common stock and 3.5% of Crown's Class B common stock. • Energy Search Inc., Knoxville, Tenn., is buying approximately 8,090 acres of oil and gas properties from Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. The property is contiguous to the existing Energy Search field in Raleigh County, W.Va., and includes 46 producing wells and related gas-gathering equipment. • Equitable Resources, Pittsburgh, will combine its Gulf of Mexico exploration and production unit with Westport Oil and Gas Co., a private Denver-based oil and gas exploration company. Equitable will receive approximately $50 million in cash and a large minority interest in Westport, and name three representatives and nominate a fourth to the Westport board. Equitable plans to use cash from the transaction to help finance its recent acquisition of Statoil Energy Inc.'s Appalachian assets and possibly for stock repurchases. • EOG Resources, Houston, has entered into a farmout agreement with Occidental, Los Angeles, under which EOG acquires exploration rights on more than 300,000 acres in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Separately, EOG, in an exchange with Burlington Resources, received properties in southeast New Mexico and West Texas that will add to its Permian Basin production. Burlington received gas properties in Hemphill County, Texas, and northwest Oklahoma, where it has current production. Reserves equal to about 6.5 million BOE were involved in the exchange. • EnerVest Energy LP, Houston, has acquired interests in 10 wells and more than 13,000 net undeveloped acres near the Rock Springs Uplift of Sweetwater County, Wyo., for about $7 million. The acquisition is EnerVest's fourth in this area. Production from the properties is 2.2 million cu. ft. of gas net to EnerVest's working interest. EnerVest will operate the majority of the wells. • Exco Resources Inc., Dallas, has purchased 21 producing gas wells in Val Verde County, Texas, from an undisclosed seller for $12.2 million. Exco will operate 18 of the wells. • Unit Corp., Tulsa, has acquired Questa Oil & Gas Co., also of Tulsa, for 0.95 Unit share per share of Questa. Questa operations are in the Permian and Anadarko basins. Year-end 1999, Questa had proved developed reserves of 20.8 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent, 83% gas, and production of 140 bbl. of oil and 4.3 million cu. ft. of gas per day in the fourth quarter of 1999. • Cotton Valley Resources Corp., Oklahoma City, has acquired 53 producing properties in Oklahoma from EDB Energy LLC, a privately owned oil and gas production company, in exchange for the common stock of Aspen Group Resources Corp., Oklahoma City, in which the company owns a 94.8% interest. Aspen Group will operate the wells, which will add to the company net reserves of 56,000 bbl. of oil and 539 million cu. ft. of gas. Separately, Aspen Group merged with East Wood Equity Venture Inc. Following the transaction, Aspen had 106 million shares outstanding. • Goodrich Petroleum Corp., Houston, has purchased a 95% working interest in the Burrwood and West Delta 83 fields in Plaquemines Parish, La., with production of approximately 3.2 million cu. ft. of gas and 340 bbl. of oil per day, to approximately 10,600 feet. It has a 47.5% working interest in deeper rights. • Halliburton Oil Producing Co., Oklahoma City, has merged with LeNorman Energy Corp., Oklahoma City. Wellspring Partners LLC was financial and marketing adviser to Halliburton Oil. • Extreme Energy Corp., Calgary, acquired an undivided 6.3% working interest in approximately 300,000 contiguous acres in the Carrizozo Basin in New Mexico for US$153,077. The lands are in the 50-square-mile Cat Head Mesa Anticline. • HYTK Industries Inc., Benedict, Kan., acquired 15 producing properties in southeast Kansas. The acquisition involves 26 producing gas wells and 10 oil wells that are owned by Mogg Energy Services Inc. The acquisition will be accomplished by merging MESI into HYTK as a wholly owned subsidiary, in exchange for HYTK stock. The MESI properties currently produce about $20,000 per month in gross revenue. • Victoria Petroleum NL is acquiring the California and international petroleum assets of Kestrel Energy Inc., Denver, for 75 million shares of Victoria valued at about $2.8 million, giving Kestrel a 15% interest in Victoria. Kestrel management has decided to focus on development of other U.S. assets, including its interest in the Green River Basin, Wyo. • Krescent Energy Co. LLC, Houston, has acquired the majority of working interest in the Hordes Creek Field in Goliad County, Texas; interests in eight other Texas fields and in Louisiana; and a 2% overriding royalty interest in OCS South Timbalier Block 38. The sellers were not identified. • Nutek Inc., Huntington Beach, Calif., has acquired Clipper Operating Co., with 10.8 million bbl. in recoverable reserves. • Rentech Inc. has entered into a memorandum of interest with Texaco Energy Systems Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Texaco Inc., that gives Texaco the exclusive right to evaluate and potentially acquire up to one-half of Rentech's 50% interest in the Sand Creek project outside Denver. • Vector Energy Corp., Houston, has acquired Mustang Island Block 818-L from Chartex Petroleum Co. for 550,000 shares of Vector common stock. Assets include three four-pile platforms and one caisson with 15 wells as well as a 20-inch gas pipeline and associated onshore facilities. Chartex owned the property since 1995 and filed for bankruptcy in January 1998. Separately, Vector sold a well in East Texas for $135,000. • Wyoming Oil & Minerals Inc., Casper, Wyo., is buying an undivided 25% working interest in the Slater Dome and Coal Bank Draw prospects, Wyo., being explored and developed by Skyline Resources Inc. Separately, the company has acquired 800 acres of leases known as the Meadow Creek project in Johnson County, Wyo.; 240 acres of leases known as the Midway Dome project, a multizone recompletion project, in Natrona County, Wyo.; and a 79% working interest in a project known as the Burke Ranch, also in Natrona County. The three projects are producing high-gravity sweet oil at depths ranging from 3,000 to 6,200 feet.