Fracking News: Heckmann Corporation Buys Power Fuels

Wastewater-treatment company Heckmann Corporation has purchased Power Fuels Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $381 million.  Heckmann supplies water and equipment used in fracking, in which drillers use a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to break apart energy-rich rocks. Fracking is behind the recent boom in U.S. oil and gas production.

Power Fuels, another wastewater-treatment company involved in the fracking business, is based near the North Dakota oil fields.  Heckmann is located in Pennsylvania, where natural-gas production is rising sharply but lower prices have hurt the profits of companies that depend on producing it. (WSJ, 9/4/2012)

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