2 Denver oil companies join push to drill in central Utah
Two more oil companies are teaming up to drill for oil in central Utah, a region that long frustrated efforts at exploration until a tiny Michigan outfit made a spectacular wildcat strike in 2003.
Denver-based Delta Petroleum Corp. announced Wednesday it would pay another Denver company, Armstrong Resources LLC, $24 million in cash and 673,000 shares of stock for an interest in Armstrong’s holdings in central Utah.
Delta said it would take a 65 percent stake in Armstrong’s 88,000 acres of leased land and that it would cover the full cost of drilling the first three wells by summer in the so-called Hingeline play.
That complex geologic feature has paid off handsomely for Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Wolverine Gas & Oil Corp., which is pumping oil as fast as it can from wells near Sigurd, Utah, and believes it has tapped into a system of major oil deposits.
Delta planned to raise financing by offering up to 1.5 million shares of stock for sale.
DENVER
Nacchio’s lawyers seek civil-case delay
Lawyers for former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio have asked a federal judge to delay fact-finding in the civil case against him until the completion of the criminal case facing him.
The U.S. attorney’s office, which charged Nacchio with 42 counts of illegal insider trading in December, already has asked for a similar delay.
Fact-finding in the civil case, filed against Nacchio and other former Qwest executives last March, has been on hold since August on a judge’s orders, so that it won’t interfere with the criminal case. The issue may be addressed at a status conference Feb. 22.
DENVER
KFx signals intent to buy Buckeye Mining
KFx Inc. entered into a non- binding letter of intent with the Keller Group Inc. to acquire its wholly owned subsidiary Buckeye Industrial Mining Co. for $37.5 million in cash and stock.
Mechanicstown, Ohio-based Buckeye mines, processes and sells coal to power-generating facilities and industrial users.
DENVER
KRG announces PRACS recapitalizing
KRG Capital Partners, a Denver-based private-equity firm, and the Weinberg & Bell Group, a Cleveland-based middle-market private investment firm, on Wednesday announced the recapitalization of PRACS Institute Ltd., a privately held contract-research organization in Fargo, N.D.
PRACS’ recapitalization is part of KRG’s $715 million Fund III.
WASHINGTON
Lockheed in Springs wins AF contract
The Air Force announced Tuesday it has awarded an $8.4 million contract to Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Integrated Systems and Solutions office in Colorado Springs.
The contract is for operational and maintenance work through September on an electronics program based at Peterson Air Force Base.
SAN JOSE, Calif.
Calpine Corp. to trim payroll, close offices
Bankrupt power merchant Calpine Corp. on Wednesday disclosed plans to fire about 9 percent of its employees and close a Colorado office in a purge designed to trim its annual expenses by $50 million.
Besides jettisoning 300 employees from its 3,300-worker payroll, San Jose, Calif.-based Calpine also intends to close offices in Oregon, Florida and Texas.
WASHINGTON
BlackBerry maker wins battle in fight
Research In Motion won a provisional ruling against a patent at the center of a court fight over its BlackBerry e-mail device, as a judge prepares to decide whether to stop most service in the U.S.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday issued a “nonfinal” ruling that the patent didn’t cover a new invention and should be canceled, James Wallace, a lawyer for the patent owner, NTP Inc., said in an interview.
MIAMI
Burger King: Stock soon can be your way
Burger King’s parent company said Wednesday it plans to sell shares to the public for the first time in the fast-food chain’s 52-year history, as it tries to more effectively compete with McDonald’s and Wendy’s.
Because the Securities and Exchange Commission bars companies from touting their prospects before initial public offerings, Miami-based Burger King Holdings Inc. declined further comment beyond saying its IPO filing will be made in late February or early March.
WASHINGTON
Senate panel may subpoena oil refiners
The Senate Judiciary Committee may subpoena officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Inc. and other refiners who declined to testify on gasoline prices Wednesday, said the panel’s chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter.
Another hearing will be held Feb. 28 to give the companies a chance to reconsider sending representatives, said Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican.
WASHINGTON
U.S. to sell $14 billion in 30-year bonds
The Bush administration, faced with the need to finance a rising federal budget deficit, announced Wednesday it will sell $14 billion in 30-year bonds on Feb. 9.
The sale marks the first time the government has sold the long-term bonds in five years. Analysts predicted they would receive a good reception from investors who have been seeking ways to lock in guaranteed returns for a longer period.
WHITE MARSH, Md.
GM investing in SUV hybrid transmissions
A day after President Bush called for cutting America’s dependence on foreign oil, General Motors Corp. announced a $115 million investment in a Baltimore-area plant to build transmissions for hybrid gasoline-electric SUVs.
The new transmissions, which GM said are the first for hybrid passenger vehicles to be designed and built in the United States, will help cut fuel consumption by at least 25 percent.
DETROIT
Big Three sales up, but Asian rivals ahead
Asian companies grabbed more of the nation’s auto market in January, dampening the good news for U.S. rivals who enjoyed their first monthly sales increases since last summer.
Asian automakers’ sales jumped 11.4 percent for the month, while the traditional Big Three saw their sales rise 4.6 percent.
