Blackstone Buys US West Texas Midstream

US and London-based private equity group Blackstone said April 17 it had entered into a binding agreement to buy West Texas midstream gas firm EagleClaw Midstream Ventures for some $2bn. The all-cash transaction is expected to close by the end of July 2017 and includes $1.25bn debt. 

EagleClaw's financial sponsor, EnCap Flatrock Midstream, was also party to the binding agreement to sell.

EagleClaw is the largest privately held midstream operator in the Permian’s Delaware Basin in the Reeves, Ward and Culberson counties of West Texas and its assets include more than 375 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines and 320 mn ft³/d of gas processing capacity with an additional 400mn ft³/d under construction, said Blackstone, noting that it serves many leading oil and gas producers.

Three months ago, Blackstone and Sanchez Energy together paid $2.3bn to buy Anadarko’s 318,000 gross acres in the Western Eagle Ford gas shale of southern Texas on a 50-50 basis. On August 14, 2014, Shell said it had agreed to sell 100% of its Haynesville conventional dry gas interest in Louisiana then producing 700mn ft³/d, including field facilities and infrastructure, for $1.2bn cash to Blackstone and its partner Vine Oil & Gas.

Mark Smedley