• Apache Corp. has purchased South Louisiana properties from a private company for $260 million. The assets include 234,000 net acres with net proved reserves of 178 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent (88% gas). Expected 2003 net daily production is more than 55 million cu. ft. of gas and 2,100 bbl. of oil. The assets include 135 producing wells and access to 849 square miles of 3-D seismic covering the relatively contiguous acreage position. Of the total, $195 million was paid for proved reserves (approximately $1.10 per thousand cu. ft. of gas equivalent), $45 million for fee acreage and probable reserves, and $20 million for 3-D seismic data. The purchase was financed with commercial paper at less than 1.5%. • Westport Resources Corp., Denver, has acquired gas production and midstream assets in Uintah County, Utah, for approximately $510 million. The assets increase Westport's reserves by approximately 603 billion cu. ft. of gas. The assets' third-quarter production was approximately 80,000 cu. ft. of gas per day. Included in the deal are approximately 240,000 net acres. • Chesapeake Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, plans to acquire Midcontinent assets from Oneok Inc. for $300 million in cash. The assets include about 1,900 wells in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, and add about 200 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent of proved reserves, increasing Chesapeake's proved reserves to almost 2.3 trillion cu. ft. of gas equivalent. Daily production will increase 47 million cu. ft. of gas equivalent to more than 565 million. Not included are Oneok's producing properties in the Cement, Chitwood and Mocane Laverne fields in Oklahoma. • Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Houston, has acquired Howell Corp., Houston, for $258 million, including bank debt of approximately $53 million. Howell's assets include proved reserves of approximately 50 million BOE, principally in the Salt Creek and Elk Basin oil fields, Wyo. Howell's net daily production for third-quarter 2002 was 9,655 bbl. of oil, 697 bbl. of gas liquids and 10.3 million cu. ft. of gas.