• BP has completed the purchase of Vastar Resources Inc., Houston, following a favorable vote by Vastar's minority shareholders to accept BP's offer of $83 per share. BP already owned 81.8% of Vastar shares, through its acquisition of Arco earlier this year. The purchase of the remaining shares cost approximately $1.5 billion. Vastar president and CEO Charles Davidson has joined Noble Affiliates Inc., Ardmore, Okla., as president and CEO, replacing Robert Kelley, who will remain with Noble as chairman through April 2001, when he retires. Vastar vice president of business development Pamela Pierce has joined Southern Energy Inc.'s Americas Group as president and CEO of the Houston-based Southern Energy capital group. The group provides financing for developing, acquiring or refinancing proved or producing properties. Southern Energy and Vastar were partners in Houston-based Southern Company Energy Marketing, which included the producer-finance business unit. Southern Energy bought out Vastar's minority position. • Phillips Petroleum Co., Bartlesville, Okla., has acquired coalbed methane assets in the Powder River Basin, Wyo., through several transactions, for $123 million. In one deal, Phillips acquired River Gas Corp., a privately held U.S. coalbed methane producer headquartered in Tuscaloosa, Ala. In another deal, Phillips has acquired a 50% interest in Casper, Wyo.-based Wyoming Oil & Minerals Inc.'s Slater Dome/Coal Bank Draw prospect in Colorado and Wyoming. Phillips will initially add about 215 billion cu. ft. of net gas reserves, of which approximately 100 billion cu. ft. are proved developed, and the remainder are proved undeveloped. The purchase price is about 57 cents per thousand cu. ft. The acquisition of River Gas includes 166,000 gross acres in the Drunkards Wash Field in Utah and the Whitson Field in Black Warrior Basin, Ala. • Evergreen Resources Inc., Denver, has acquired interests in approximately 24,000 acres of producing coalbed methane properties in the Raton Basin, Colorado, from KLT Gas Inc., an indirect subsidiary of Kansas City Power & Light Co., for $70 million in cash, $100 million in mandatory redeemable preferred stock and $6 million in common stock. The properties are estimated to contain 153 billion cu. ft. of proved gas reserves and are generating daily net sales of 28 million cu. ft. of gas from a total of 151 net wells. • Cheniere Energy Inc., Houston, has received funding from Warburg, Pincus Equity Partners LP, a global private equity fund based in New York, for its exploration program on the Fairfield database through a newly formed subsidiary, Gryphon Exploration Co. Cheniere will contribute selected assets that include 3-D seismic data over approximately 8,800 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico, certain offshore leases, its Shark Prospect currently being drilled, its joint exploration agreement with Samson Offshore Co. and certain other assets. Warburg Pincus will contribute $25 million and receive preferred stock, with an 8% accrued dividend, convertible into 63.2% of Gryphon common stock. Cheniere and Warburg Pincus have also agreed under certain circumstances to contribute to Gryphon an additional $75 million. In addition to a 36.8% interest in Gryphon, Cheniere will maintain ownership of its producing properties with reserves valued at $12.1 million, its proprietary 3-D seismic data set in the Cameron area of Louisiana, a license to 1,900 square miles of 3-D seismic data recently acquired from Seitel Data Ltd. and the option to license an additional 3,100 square miles of data from Seitel. Petrie Parkman & Co. acted as financial advisor to Cheniere in connection with the transaction. As part of the deal, Cheniere has elected Charles M. Reimer, a director since 1998, as president and CEO. Reimer was president of British-Borneo USA Inc. and chairman and CEO of Virginia Indonesia Co., the operator on behalf of Union Texas Petroleum Holdings Inc. and Lasmo Plc, in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Michael L. Harvey, whom Reimer replaces, will serve as president and CEO of Gryphon. • Exco Resources Inc., Dallas, has acquired assets for $48 million and warrants to purchase 200,000 shares of Exco common stock at $11 each, in West Texas, New Mexico, the Midcontinent, Louisiana and Mississippi. Exco estimates the deal includes 8.3 million bbl. of proved oil and 37.3 billion cu. ft. of proved gas. Net daily production in August was approximately 1,440 bbl. of oil and 5.2 million cu. ft. of gas. • Central Resources Inc., Denver, has agreed to sell certain properties and related facilities in West Texas, the Four Corners area, the Midcontinent and Rockies, and along the Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi Gulf Coast, for $70 million. Central will use the cash to continue to acquire properties, further develop projects in Argentina, and reduce debt. Energy Spectrum Advisors Inc., Dallas, advised Central and managed the sale. • Aspen Group Resources Corp., Oklahoma City, has acquired 100% of Old Dominion Oil Corp.'s producing wells, leases, property and equipment in an all-cash transaction, for an undisclosed sum. Old Dominion's holdings included interests in approximately 400 producing properties in Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The predominant position is in the Anadarko Basin, Okla., where Aspen currently has a number of producing properties. Aspen estimates that 90% of Old Dominion's reserves are gas. Separately, Aspen has acquired additional oil properties in the El Dorado Field, Kan., with approximately 1.1 million bbl. of proven reserves. Aspen's gas production has grown to more than 7.2 million cu. ft. per day and proven reserves have increased 238% since Jan. 1. •ATP Oil & Gas, Houston, has acquired Texaco Exploration and Production Inc.'s working interest in the Garden Banks Block 409 lease known as Ladybug, in approximately 1,350 feet of water. ATP will serve as operator of Ladybug and will immediately begin a subsea development of the lease with its 50% partner, Unocal Corp. The subsea tieback will be to the Texaco Unocal Garden Banks Block 189 Tick platform, 16 miles away. • Charger Energy Inc., Calgary, intends to acquire certain interests in the Green River Basin, Wyo., from 389588 Alberta Ltd. in an agreement with 389588, Titan Energy Corp., Extreme Energy Corp. and Sovereign Chief Ventures Ltd. Titan will act as the contract operator of the interests on behalf of Charger, Extreme and Sovereign. • Contango Oil & Gas Co., Houston, has purchased a 10% interest in Republic Exploration LLC for $4 million with the option to purchase another 23.33% interest for an additional $2.5 million. The option expires Dec. 29. Republic Exploration has the license rights to existing and newly reprocessed 3-D seismic covering more than 8,600 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico shelf. Republic Exploration has been formed to explore prospects using the data. The other two members of Republic Exploration are privately held. • Delta Petroleum Corp., Denver, has agreed with Saga Petroleum Corp. and its affiliates for Delta to have an option to purchase Saga's interests in approximately 680 producing wells and associated acreage in the Permian Basin in eight counties in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico for $49.5 million. Delta has issued Saga 133,423 shares restricted common stock as payment. If Delta elects to exercise the option it must make an additional deposit of $500,000 cash and 289,583 shares of restricted common stock, and will be required to close and pay the bulk of the remainder of the purchase price by Dec. 1. The interests included in the option currently produce approximately 1,750 BOE per day net to Saga. • Texoil Inc., Houston, has swapped properties in West Texas for additional interests in the Crowley Field in Acadia Parish, La., through a tax-free exchange. Texoil is the operator of the Crowley Field and will now control 100% of the production and the majority of other mineral interests. Texoil no longer has interests in West Texas. Separately, the company has agreed to acquire proved reserves in South Texas totaling approximately 17 billion cu. ft. of gas and 126,000 bbl. of associated liquids, for $10.5 million. • Dominion E&P Inc., Houston, has acquired the operating interests of Suemaur E&P LLC and several partners in three Texas Gulf Coast gas fields. Dominion now owns and operates the Bluntzer Field, a Vicksburg discovery made in western Nueces County by Suemaur in early 1999. The field produces 24 million cu. ft. of gas and 450 bbl. of oil a day and has significant opportunity for additional development drilling. • Hallwood Energy Corp., Denver, has acquired interests in 34 producing wells, five service wells and 69 inactive wells in five fields in Chambers, San Patricio and Frio counties of Texas and St. James and Assumption parishes of Louisiana for approximately $4 million and 417,406 shares of Hallwood common stock. The properties include 13 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent of proved reserves, resulting in an estimated purchase price of 60 cents per thousand cu. ft. equivalent. • Bargo Energy Co., Houston, has retained Lehman Brothers Inc. and Chase Securities Inc. to evaluate various alternatives for the company's future. Bargo will consider an outright sale, merger or recapitalization with public or private equity. The company's current long-term bank debt totals $132 million, down from a peak of $170 million earlier this year. Current plans are to reduce bank debt below $100 million by year-end from current excess operating cash flow and minor property sales. • The Houston Exploration Co. and Samedan Oil Corp. have acquired New Orleans-based McMoRan Exploration Co.'s 30% interest in Vermilion Block 408 for $6.5 million. McMoRan's 95% share in the program equates to $6.2 million in sales proceeds. The Houston Exploration Co. purchased a 16.8% working interest and Samedan Oil Corp., a subsidiary of Noble Affiliates Inc., purchased the remaining 13.2% working interest. • Toreador Resources Corp., Dallas, has acquired Texona Petroleum Corp., a privately held Houston-based producer, for 1.1 million shares of common. Texona's properties are in 12 states, principally Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. Texona's reserves total 5,529 million cu. ft. of gas and 431,000 bbl. of oil. More than 68% of the newly acquired reserves are gas.