Windy Cove Energy Receives up to $700 million from Blackstone to Acquire and Develop CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery Assets in the United States
Experienced management team led by Chuck Fox, Former Vice President of Kinder Morgan CO2 Company
Houston, TX and New York, NY, October 6, 2014. Windy Cove Energy, LLC (“Windy Cove” or the “Company”) and Blackstone Energy Partners and affiliates of Blackstone (NYSE:BX), today announced the formation of Windy Cove and a concurrent commitment to invest up to $700 million of equity to acquire and develop CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery (“EOR”) assets in the United States.
Founded by Chuck Fox, its President and CEO, Windy Cove intends to be a leading producer of oil generated from CO2 EOR, a proven technology for recovering oil reserves from mature oil fields. The senior Windy Cove team has more than 70 years of combined technical and operational experience in CO2 EOR, primarily from Shell, Texaco, and Kinder Morgan.
Mr. Fox said, “I am delighted that Blackstone has chosen to partner with Windy Cove. More than 20 billion barrels of oil are estimated to be recoverable from CO2 flooding in the United States. Many fields that are amenable to CO2 EOR are held by operators without the capital, expertise, or desire to execute a CO2 EOR operation. We believe that Windy Cove’s extensive CO2 operating experience together with Blackstone’s strong capital base, industry relationships and experience, and successful track record of investing in energy, and the oil and gas sector specifically, will allow Windy Cove to stand apart as the partner of choice for companies seeking joint ventures or exits for their CO2-amenable water flooded assets.”
Angelo Acconcia, a Managing Director of Blackstone Energy Partners who oversees their oil and gas investments said, “We are very excited to partner with Chuck and his team in this investment. The Windy Cove management team has a very strong technical and operational track record of managing large and complicated projects to optimize the long-term production and return on capital for their partners. Chuck and his team are incredibly talented operators who are uniquely situated to contribute significant operational expertise to future opportunities and partnerships, having successfully played a key leadership role at Shell’s and Kinder Morgan’s CO2 businesses for nearly 20 years.”
Blackstone Senior Managing Director and CEO of Blackstone Energy Partners, David Foley, said, “Our partnership with Windy Cove is consistent with our strategy of backing best-in-class managers to build world class companies in the oil and gas industry and across the energy spectrum. By providing revenue to providers of CO2 as well as putting that CO2 back deep underground, companies like Windy Cove can play a positive role in encouraging coal-fired power generation facilities and other sources of CO2 emissions to instead capture that CO2 for use in recovering oil from existing mature fields right here in the United States.”
About Windy Cove Energy, LLC
Windy Cove Energy is a Houston, Texas-based oil and gas company formed in 2014 to acquire and develop CO2 EOR projects in the United States. Windy Cove is interested in purchasing properties outright, partnering with existing owners, or forming joint ventures with others to develop oil reserves with CO2 floods and acquire and develop CO2 sources. Please refer to http://www.windycoveenergy.com for further detail.
About Blackstone Energy Partners
Blackstone Energy Partners is Blackstone’s energy-focused private equity business, with a successful record built on Blackstone’s industry expertise and partnerships with exceptional management teams. Blackstone has invested approximately $7 billion of equity globally across a broad range of sectors within the energy industry.
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with almost $300 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets, and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Blackstone also provides various financial advisory services, including financial and strategic advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory, and fund placement services.
For more information about Blackstone Energy Partners, please visit www.blackstone.com.
Contacts
For Blackstone:
Peter Rose
212-583-5871
[email protected]
For Windy Cove:
Andy Casazza
281-402-1875