In what would be the first public equity offering in many months by a U.S. producer, 3Tec Energy Corp. (Nasdaq: TTEN), Houston, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 6.25 million common shares. Bear Stearns & Co. is joint lead manager and sole book runner for the offering. CIBC World Markets is joint lead manager, with Prudential Securities Inc. and First Union Securities Inc. as comanagers. 3Tec has granted the underwriters an option to sell another 937,500 shares to cover overallotments. Universal Compression Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UCO) completed an initial public offering of 7 million common shares at $22 per share. The Houston natural-gas compression services company offered the stock concurrently in the United States and internationally. Merrill Lynch & Co., Salomon Smith Barney, Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, First Union Securities Inc. and Wasserstein Perella Securities Inc. were managing underwriters. Universal Compression granted the underwriters an option to purchase an additional 1.05 million common shares to cover overallotments. The company received $148.5 million of net proceeds from the IPO. It will use that and proceeds from a new operating lease facility that will close concurrently with the offering to repay all debt under an existing credit facility and international debt arrangements. Universal Compression also expects to use money from the two financings to redeem its 11.37% senior discount notes and for general corporate purposes Petroleum Place Inc., Englewood, Colo., has registered with the SEC to make an initial public offering of common stock. Shares of the Internet-based energy marketplace company will trade on the Nasdaq National Market as PPLC. Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette Securities Corp. is lead underwriter, with Salomon Smith Barney, Banc of America Securities LLC and DLJ Direct Inc. as managing underwriters. The IPO registration follows completion of a private placement with several financial and oil and gas firms that raised $60 million. Petroleum Place has operated a web site, Petroleumplace.com, since 1995. Private-placement investors included Catterton Partners, The Goldman Sachs Group, NeoCarta Ventures, J. & W. Seligman & Co. and Wasserstein Perella Venture Capital, and oil and gas producers Unocal Capital, Occidental Energy Services, Ocean Energy, Forest Oil Corp., EOG Resources, El Paso Field Services Co. , Chesapeake Energy Corp., Tom Brown Inc., Damac Technology Partners (United Arab Emirates), BV Ventures (Saudi Arabia), and NIG-Petro Ltd. (Kuwait). Grant Prideco Inc. (NYSE: GRP), The Woodlands, Texas, has registered with the SEC to offer $500 million of debt, preferred stock, common stock, depositary shares and warrants. The oil country tubular goods manufacturer filed its shelf registration shortly after being spun off from Weatherford International Inc. (NYSE: WFT). Grant Prideco said that it would use proceeds from any sale under the shelf to pay debt, to invest in subsidiaries, for future acquisitions or as working capital. The company said that it also may use money that it raises in such offerings to invest in certificates of deposit, U.S. government bonds or other interest-bearing securities until the money is needed for acquisitions or other purposes. Forest Oil Corp. (NYSE: FST), Denver, has registered with the SEC to offer $500 million of common stock, preferred stock and debt. The independent said it will use proceeds from any offering under the shelf registration to pay debt, to finance capital expenditures or future acquisitions, or as working capital and for other general corporate purposes. Superior Energy Services Inc. (Nasdaq: SESI), Harvey, La., priced an offering, on a firm commitment, underwritten basis, of 6.35 million common shares at $9 per share. Johnson Rice & Co. LLC is underwriter. The oilfield service company expects the stock sale to generate approximately $54.95 million in net proceeds, which it will use to pay amounts owed under its revolving credit facility, to fund acquisitions and for general corporate purposes. The offering includes an additional 950,000 shares to cover overallotments. Proprietary Energy Industries Inc. (Canadian Venture Exchange: PPI), Calgary, privately placed 12.5 million units, at C$2.15 per unit, with CommCept AG of Zurich, Switzerland, for C$39.4 million of gross proceeds. Each unit consists of one common share of the Calgary company and one warrant to purchase an additional common share. South Texas Drilling & Exploration Inc. (Bulletin Board: STXD), San Antonio, privately placed 3,678,161 shares of common stock at $2.175 each with Wedge Energy Services LLC for $8 million of gross proceeds. The onshore drilling contractor intends to use the money to partially fund the purchase of two new rigs. Wedge will own approximately 40% of STD&E's outstanding stock as a result of this investment and a $1.5-million investment in the company in February Cambridge Energy Corp. (Bulletin Board: CNGG), Cocoa, Fla., plans to privately place up to $5.5 million of debt and / or equity. The independent will use net proceeds to expand its production in Louisiana and Indonesia. Dirks & Co. will lead the private placement. NetScout Capital Corp., Calgary, completed a private placement of 6.5 million special warrants for C30 cents each for C$1.95 million of gross proceeds. Canaccord Capital Corp. was placement agent in the deal for the Calgary independent producer. Basinview Energy Inc. (CDNX: BXE), Calgary, privately placed more than C$1 million of common stock. The independent will use proceeds to help fund recent property acquisitions and associated exploration and development activity. Roseland Resources Ltd. (CDNX: ROS), Calgary, plans to privately place 700,000 common shares, 300,000 of which would be on a flow-through basis, with senior executives and employees at C50 cents each. Coastal Caribbean Oils and Minerals Ltd. (OTC Bulletin Board: COCBF.OB), Apalachicola, Fla., registered with the SEC to offer additional common shares exclusively to its shareholders by means of a non-transferable subscription package. The producer has not determined the number of shares to be offered, the price per share or other terms of the offering. It will use proceeds for general corporate purposes. NCE Resources Group filed a preliminary prospectus with Canadian securities regulators to offer investors in that country a new flow-through investment product. It said that the NCE Flow-Through (2000-1) Limited Partnership has been organized to invest in flow-through shares of publicly traded Canadian resource companies. Canaccord Capital Corp. is leading the offering syndicate that includes Dundee Securities Corp., Goepel McDermid Inc. and Yorkton Securities Inc. NCE said that the partnership's objective is to achieve capital appreciation, while providing substantial tax benefits, for limited partners. It will offer up to 1.2 million units for C$25 each for C$30 million total gross value. The offering's minimum amount will be 200,000 units for C$5 million. The minimum subscription Cross Timbers Oil Co. (NYSE: XTO), Fort Worth, completed a new $850-million revolving credit facility with a group of 23 major U.S. and international banks. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Banc of America Securities LLC, Chase Securities Inc. and FleetBoston Robertson Stephens Inc. led the syndicate. The independent used proceeds to retire existing bank debt. The facility is secured by the company's properties and has annual borrowing base redeterminations based upon a formula using Cross Timbers' year-end reserves and bank-approved pricing parameters. The loan can be prepaid at any time without penalty, Cross Timbers said. Initial commitments under the new facility total $800 million, with an interest rate between the London Interbank Offered Rate plus 1.38% and Libor plus 1.75%, depending upon amounts outstanding. Unused commitments under the bank facility are $109 million, based upon outstanding bank debt as of March 31, Cross Timbers said. The initial interest rate under the facility is Libor plus 1.67%. "Getting a five-year deal done at that rate in today's market is a testimony to the quality of our long-lived reserves and the banks' confidence in our management team," said Louis G. Baldwin, Cross Timbers' executive vice president and chief financial officer. Nuevo Energy Co. (NYSE: NEV), Houston, has reached an agreement with a group of nine major U.S. and international banks to amend and restate its senior revolving credit facility. The revisions aim to make structural changes that increase the revolver's value. Led by Bank of America, the banks agreed to an amended facility with a $410-million face amount. The amount can be expanded at Nuevo's option, not to exceed $800 million, with increased commitments from existing banks or with new commitments from additional banks. At the same time, the bank group approved a $300-million borrowing base governing the availability under this new bank facility through October 2000. As of March 31, Nuevo had drawn down $79 million under its existing credit line. Subsequent semiannual borrowing base re-determinations will require the consent of banks holding 60% of the total facility commitments, according to Nuevo. An increase in the borrowing base will require the consent of banks holding two-thirds of the total commitments, it added. "This was an innovative retrade of our credit facility, driven by the fact that Nuevo was capable of operating for another three years with the existing credit facility that was priced below today's market," said Bob King, the independent's chief financial officer. The adjustments to the agreement include adding two years to the current three-year term, relaxing certain limitations on restricted payments, streamlining the borrowing base determination process and simplifying the administration of the facility with fewer banks. In addition to Bank of America, Bank One and Bank of Montreal are comanagers for the facility. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., Banque Paribas, Citibank, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank of Canada and Christiania Bank OG Kreditkasse also will participate. The CIT Group / Business Credit Inc. raised UTI Energy Corp.'s (Amex: UTI) revolving credit facility from $65 million to $75 million. The revolver calls for periodic interest rate payments at a rate that floats from the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate plus 1.75 percent to LIBOR plus 2.75 percent, based on UTI's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The credit line's current applicable rate is LIBOR plus 1.75 percent. The Houston onshore drilling contractor's recent entry into the Canadian market through its acquisition of the 14-rig operation of Phelps Drilling International Ltd. has resulted in a current balance of $20 million outstanding under the credit facility, UTI indicated. Cancoil Integrated Services Inc. (CDNX: CAN), Calgary, closed a C$3 million increase in its long-term credit facilities with the National Bank of Canada. The coiled tubing manufacturer will use the money to construct new fracturing units. Its long-term debt is C$7,614,000, C$6,114,000 of which is with National Bank of Canada and C$1.5 million of which are convertible notes held by ARC Canadian Energy Venture Fund.