Spectra Energy Partners LP should close on the deal to buy Noark Gas Pipeline LP in this quarter pending regulatory approval. The deal, when combined with a $100 million joint venture between Atlas and Williams Cos. Inc. announced last week, will help Atlas pay off about $400 million in debt, according to reports.
"We continue to work on other transactions, which should generate additional cash and further de-lever our company," Atlas CEO Gene Dubay said in a statement.
Atlas Pipeline Mid-Continent LLC, a Tulsa-based subsidiary of Atlas Pipeline Partners, held a majority interest in the Noark natural gas gathering and transmission system since 2005. Noark is parent company of Ozark Gas Transmission, a 565-mile pipeline from southeastern Oklahoma through Arkansas and into southeastern Missouri.
Ozark maintained a throughput capacity of 500 million cubic feet per day as of December.
Atlas Pipeline Mid-Continent employed about 100 people in Tulsa in December, but the parent company has struggled with debt issues and the fall in oil and gas prices. Atlas Pipeline Partners suffered a $456 million net loss in the fourth quarter, most of that due to an accounting write-down on the value of its commodity assets.
On April 1, Williams and Atlas announced a joint venture involving Atlas' existing gathering
system in the Appalachian region's Marcellus Shale. Williams, which is paying $102 million and issuing a $25 million note to help fund the joint venture, will own a majority interest in the 1,800-mile pipeline and gathering system.
Rod Walton 581-8457 rod.walton@tulsaworld.com
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