Privately owned Antero Resources Corp., Denver, has secured a $1-billion line-of-equity funding led by private-equity firm Warburg Pincus and including Yorktown Energy Partners VII LP, Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Group and the Antero management team.

Antero chairman and chief executive Paul M. Rady and president and chief financial officer Glen C. Warren Jr. formed Antero in 2002 and funded the company in early 2003 with the current investor group. It was focused on the Barnett shale, eventually becoming the second-largest producer and second-most-active operator until its sale in April 2005 to XTO Energy Inc. for more than $1 billion in cash and stock.

The current Antero group has been focused on developing properties in the Arkoma Basin of Oklahoma and the Piceance Basin of Colorado.

Antero currently operates 11 rigs and has more than 120,000 net leasehold acres with more than 2,800 proved, probable and possible gross drilling locations. Gross operated production in the Woodford shale play of the Arkoma Basin is 34 million cubic feet of gas per day and in the Piceance Basin is 20 million cubic feet per day. Antero also owns more than 40 miles of gathering pipeline and gas-processing capacity of 100 million cubic feet per day in the Arkoma Basin and approximately 20 miles of pipeline in the Piceance Basin.

Prior to founding Antero, Rady was chairman, president and CEO of Pennaco Energy Inc., which was sold to Marathon Oil. Warren was executive vice president and CFO of Pennaco. Rady and Warren led Pennaco from its start as a small acreage-holder in the Powder River Basin play in Wyoming into a public company with net production of more than 50 million cubic feet per day. Prior to Pennaco, Rady was president and CEO of Barrett Resources Corp., which was sold to The Williams Cos., Tulsa, Okla., (NYSE: WMB).

Rady says, "We are very pleased to continue our partnership with Warburg Pincus, Yorktown Energy Partners and Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking in one of the largest private-equity commitments ever made in the exploration and production sector. The Antero management team has worked together for many years and has had outstanding success at finding and developing natural gas reserves in the Midcontinent and Rocky Mountain regions."

Warburg Pincus managing director Peter R. Kagan says, "We are tremendously pleased with the strong results our partnership has produced to date, and we are excited to continue to work with management as they become a leading industry player in non-conventional resources."

Epic Energy Resources Inc., Houston, (OTCBB: EPCC) has formed a subsidiary, Epic Exploration and Production LLC, to acquire and develop oil and gas assets.

Epic will have a 50% ownership interest in this new entity and will provide operational, engineering and organizational support along with 100% responsibility for all day-to-day activities. Privately owned private investment company UIV LLC will hold the remaining percentage and provide capital for future acquisitions. The initial capital commitment is $15- to $25 million.

Epic E&P plans to close its first acquisition by the end of the third quarter.

Franklin Mining Inc., Las Vegas, (Pink Sheets: FMNJ) now trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as FMJ.

HighMount Exploration & Production LLC is the name of the new Loews Corp., New York, (NYSE: LTR) E&P subsidiary formed from the acquisition of some $4 billion worth of U.S. onshore assets from Dominion Resources Inc., Richmond, Va. (NYSE: D).

HighMount's assets are in the Permian Basin, the Antrim Shale (Michigan) and the Black Warrior Basin (Alabama). Proved reserves are approximately 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas equivalent. Loews paid $1.61 per thousand cubic feet equivalent of proved reserves, according to its advisor, Merrill Lynch Petrie Divestitures Advisors. Dominion E&P senior vice president of E&P Timothy Parker is now Loews' E&P subsidiary leader.

Loews chief executive James Tisch says, "These long-lived and low-risk natural gas producing assets represent an excellent platform for Loews to enter the exploration and production business. We have a favorable long-term view of natural gas pricing in the U.S. and believe natural gas will increasingly be the fuel of choice in the future."

Dominion has sold 85% of its E&P reserves. It has retained its Appalachian E&P operations and will otherwise focus on its utility business.

Randy Foutch has formed Midcontinent-focused, Tulsa, Okla.-based Laredo Petroleum with private equity from management and a commitment of $300- to $500 million from Warburg Pincus. Laredo also has a $300-million revolving-credit bank facility.

Foutch created and sold three Midcontinent-focused E&P companies, including Lariat Petroleum and Latigo Petroleum. Warburg Pincus provided equity funding for these companies as well. Lariat was founded in 1997 and sold in 2001 to Newfield Exploration Co. for approximately $333 million; Latigo was formed in 2002 and sold in 2006 to Pogo Producing Co. for approximately $750 million.

At Laredo, Foutch is joined by Jerry Schuyler as chief operating officer. Schuyler has more than 30 years of experience at Arco Oil & Gas, Dominion E&P and St. Mary Land & Exploration. Also forming Laredo are Pat Curth, Oran Hall, Mark Womble and other former colleagues of Foutch's.

Laredo has already made a $75-million acquisition: assets from Austin, Texas-based Jones Energy Ltd., involving 130 producing properties primarily in Hansford County, Texas.

Foutch says, "In the current market environment, there is no shortage of capital available for investment in upstream oil and gas properties. However, Warburg Pincus distinguishes itself as one of the largest, most experienced and most sophisticated private-equity investors in the E&P sector, and I believe that Laredo is best positioned for long-term success through this partnership."

Warburg Pincus managing director Jeffrey A. Harris says, "Our previous investments in Lariat and Latigo were very successful, primarily due to the talents of Randy Foutch and his team. We welcome the addition of Jerry Schuyler to the team and are thrilled to have another opportunity to work with such a talented group of entrepreneurs."

Privately owned Houston-based Opal Resources LLC has received an equity commitment from an affiliate of New York-based investment-broker Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Opal Resources will focus on the acquisition, development and exploration of reserves primarily in onshore basins in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Opal Resources was formed in July by Myra Dria, chief executive, and Rick Lester, chief financial officer, who have also made equity commitments.

Dria says, "We are immensely excited about the opportunity to partner with Goldman Sachs. We believe market fundamentals will continue to be favorable for the foreseeable future, providing an ideal situation for Opal Resources."

Dria is a petroleum engineer and has nearly 30 years of oil and gas experience in North and South America, most recently as New Mexico asset manager for BP North America. Lester has more than 30 years of oil and gas experience with start-up and public oil and gas companies, most recently as CFO of Mariner Energy Inc.

Privately owned Denver-based Rimrock Energy LLC has received equity commitments of $250 million from Bear Stearns Merchant Banking and Natural Gas Partners.

Rimrock was formed in July to focus on onshore unconventional resources in North America, including shale gas, tight gas and coalbed-methane. The company was founded by chief executive Terrell A. Dobkins, chairman Sanford E. McCormick and chief financial officer Wallace G. Wilson, who have also made equity commitments.

Dobkins was vice president, production, for Antero Resources Corp., where he focused on resource plays in the Barnett shale, Arkoma Basin and Piceance Basin. McCormick was CEO for private and publicly traded E&P companies. Wilson was CFO of several companies and has experience in public accounting.

Dobkins says, "We created Rimrock to capitalize on the growing opportunities in unconventional oil and gas in a well-capitalized venture with strong partners. I feel very fortunate to have such a strong team of professionals, from top to bottom. In addition, BSMB and NGP both have established track records for working closely with management teams to help develop and grow companies, and we look forward to working with them."

Sheridan Production Partners, Houston, has formed Sheridan Production Partners LP, a $1.3-billion fund that will invest in mature assets across the U.S., including the Gulf of Mexico shelf.

Sheridan chief executive is Lisa Stewart, who has co-founded the new E&P company with private-equity firm Warburg Pincus. Stewart was executive vice president for El Paso Corp. and president of El Paso Exploration & Production Co. Prior to El Paso she was executive vice president, business development and E&P services, for Apache Corp.

Joining Stewart are Jim Bass, executive vice president and chief operating officer; Eric Harry, executive vice president, acquisitions, and general counsel; and Tim Blaine, chief financial officer.

Bass and Harry were both previously with El Paso and Apache; Blaine was with Kerr-McGee Corp. Bass was El Paso senior vice president, Texas Gulf Coast region, and with Apache, vice president, Midcontinent; managing director, Australian operations; and vice president, exploration, Gulf of Mexico.

Harry was senior vice president and general counsel at El Paso, and vice president and associate general counsel at Apache.

Blaine was vice president and controller at Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas until its sale to Anadarko Petroleum Corp. last year. Prior to joining Kerr-McGee, he was a partner at Arthur Andersen responsible for auditing large and midsize E&P companies, including American Exploration, Apache, EOG Resources, Mesa LP and Tom Brown.

Stewart says, "We're pleased to have the resources of a dedicated fund at a time when there is an increased focus on energy operations and optimization, and a particularly attractive supply and demand dynamic for mature properties."

Warburg Pincus energy-practice managing director and partner Jeffrey A. Harris says, "Lisa Stewart and Sheridan's senior management team have an excellent track record and tremendous experience both in acquiring and operating mature oil and gas assets. The team's quality reputation and expertise position them to build a geographically diversified portfolio of oil and gas properties while generating superior risk-adjusted rates of return."

Eric Macy and other former executives with Houston-based TexCal Energy, which was sold in 2006 to Venoco Inc., Denver, (NYSE: VQ) have formed Navitas Oil & Gas, Houston, focused on acquiring U.S. onshore properties, primarily in the Sacramento Basin in California and on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Macy was chairman of TexCal Energy, which was formed to acquire the oil and gas assets of Tri-Union Development Corp. through a 363 bankruptcy auction process in October 2004. TexCal's focus was onshore Texas and California and had 31 million barrels equivalent of proved reserves. Venoco Inc. purchased TexCal for a net consideration of $456 million.

Macy is chief executive officer of Navitas and was previously an executive vice president with Jefferies & Co. (NYSE: JEF). Joining him at Navitas are Suzanne Ambrose, chief financial officer; Daniel Glaiser, vice president, exploration; and Vicki Townsend CPL, vice president, land. They can be reached at 713-654-1600.

Tortoise Capital Advisors LLC, Overland Park, Kan., (NYSE: TTO) reports the capitalization of Tortoise Gas and Oil Corp. with equity of $82.9 million before fees and expenses.

The company anticipates it will have available capital in excess of $100 million for direct investments in energy producers.

Tortoise Capital managing director David Schulte says, "We formed Tortoise Gas and Oil Corp. primarily to respond to the growing need by private and public U.S. energy production partnerships for timely and flexible direct placement financing to fund internal growth projects and acquisitions.

Tortoise Gas and Oil will invest directly in privately held companies and publicly traded MLPs operating primarily in the upstream market, and to a lesser extent the midstream market.