BlueStone Natural Resources II completes Quicksilver acquisition

BlueStone Natural Resources II completed its purchase of Quicksilver Resources on Thursday, establishing itself as one of the top producers in the Barnett Shale.

BlueStone said it also entered into a 10-year agreement with Crestwood Equity Partners to gather the gas from the Alliance, Lake Arlington and Cowtown systems, which comprise most of the 1,017 producing wells in the Barnett.

“BlueStone is excited about this tremendous growth opportunity,” said President and CEO John Redmondsaid in a statement. “We are excited about moving forward with our existing team, our new team members, and new partners to grow this asset base over the coming years.”

BlueStone bought Quicksilver Resources in a bankruptcy auction in January for $245 million. With the purchase, BlueStone, which already had assets in the Barnett Shale, will have 1,200 wells in North Texas. It bought additional holdings from Quicksilver in the Permian Basin.

BlueStone partnered with Natural Gas Partners of Irving to buy Quicksilver’s assets. Natural Gas Partners is a group of private equity funds, with over $16 billion in cumulative commitments, which primarily make investments in the natural resources sector.

Once a leader in the Barnett Shale, Fort Worth-based Quicksilver filed for bankruptcy last year, reporting assets of about $1.21 billion and $2.35 billion in debt.

BlueStone Natural Resources II was formed in 2012 to acquire and exploit high-quality, long-lived oil and gas assets, the company said. BlueStone employs more than 50 people at its Tulsa headquarters and an additional 100 field employees in offices throughout Texas.

In February, Redmond told the Star-Telegram that BlueStone will not have as big a presence in Fort Worth. While Quicksilver enjoyed a commanding view from the top floors of Burnett Plaza, Redmond said BlueStone will maintain its headquarters in Oklahoma.

BlueStone had 10 people working out of an office in Hill County south of Fort Worth. Quicksilver, in comparison, had 164 employees — 116 in downtown Fort Worth and an office on Eagle Parkway plus 48 in Glen Rose.

As part of the purchase, BlueStone intends to continue partnerships that Quicksilver made with two foreign companies. Quicksilver sold 25 percent of its Barnett Shale holdings to Tokyo Gas in April 2013 and about a quarter of its leasehold in the Alliance area to Italian energy giant Eni, which was also a partner in the Permian Basin.

Coupled with its South Texas holdings, BlueStone will have net production of more than 180 million cubic feet equivalent of gas per day.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 3:04 PM with the headline "BlueStone Natural Resources II completes Quicksilver acquisition."