• Riverstone and AJ Lucas Announce Investment in Cuadrilla Resources

    Posted in Global Energy, Press Releases.

    London, UK and Sydney, Australia (February 16, 2010) – The Riverstone/Carlyle Global Energy and Power Funds, a group of energy-focused private equity funds managed by Riverstone Holdings LLC (“Riverstone”), announced today that it has made a strategic investment in Cuadrilla Resources (“Cuadrilla” or the “Company”).

    Cuadrilla was formed in September 2007 as a privately held exploration and production company focused on bringing together leading unconventional oil and gas explorers, developers and technologists to unlock untapped unconventional resource plays in selected parts of Europe, in an environmentally and socially acceptable manner. Lucas was a founding shareholder in Cuadrilla and has supported the management team since the company’s inception.

    Cuadrilla will in the near term focus on its unconventional resource portfolio in the UK, Netherlands and Poland, while continuing to evaluate other prospective countries throughout Europe. To date, the company has applied for, and in some cases been granted, exploration licenses totaling in excess of 1.5 million acres in a number of different basins. In addition, Cuadrilla has designed and overseen the manufacture of state of the art cementing and fracture stimulation equipment and is soon to take delivery of a DrillMec HH220 top drive rig.

    The philosophy behind the establishment of Cuadrilla was to combine a proven management team with proprietary exploration, operational and extraction IP to carefully select plays within established hydrocarbon provinces across Europe, and to implement a vertically integrated business model in terms of drilling and extraction capability.

    Cuadrilla’s management team is known for its technical leadership and global experience in finding unconventional hydrocarbons. It is led by Dr. Chris Cornelius and Mr. Dennis Carlton, (both ex Evergreen Resources) and includes Dr. Peter Turner and Professor Marc Bustin from the technology side and Messrs. Mark Miller and Eric Vaughan from the operational side.

    Pierre Lapeyre and David Leuschen, Co-Founders of Riverstone said, “Cuadrilla’s management team has a proven track record in the exploration and commercialisation of unconventional hydrocarbons, backed by petrophysical and geological science of world standing. Additionally, its vertical integration gives the company an edge that other explorers do not have. We are very pleased to join AJ Lucas in developing the very considerable potential inside Cuadrilla.”

    About AJ Lucas Group Limited
    Lucas is a leading provider of specialist infrastructure and mining services. It is the leading supplier of drilling services to Australia’s coal and coal seam gas industries. It is also one of Australia’s largest builders of long distance gas pipelines. Other divisions provide gas management services to the coal and coal seam gas industry, construction, civil and property services.

    AJ Lucas is also a leading developer of unconventional hydrocarbon properties. Past projects successfully developed and exited include the Company’s investments in Gloucester Basin, Sydney Gas and ATP651 in Queensland’s Surat Basin.

    About Riverstone Holdings LLC

    Riverstone Holdings LLC, an energy and power-focused private equity firm founded in 2000, has approximately $17 billion under management across six investment funds, including the world’s largest renewable energy fund. Riverstone conducts buyout and growth capital investments in the midstream,
    exploration & production, oilfield services, power and renewable sectors of the energy industry. With
    offices in New York, London and Houston, the firm has committed approximately $13 billion to 65
    investments in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit
    www.riverstonellc.com.

    Contact:
    For Riverstone Holdings LLC:
    Jeffrey Taufield or Michael Freitag
    Kekst and Company
    212-521-4800

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