Seminole Energy Services Receives $55 Million Capital Infusion From The Stephens Group

February 13, 2007

Tulsa-based Seminole Energy Services, LLC, announced today that The Stephens Group, LLC, a private investment firm located in Little Rock, Arkansas, has provided the company $55 million in equity capital to support its growth in the retail gas marketing and midstream businesses.

Privately-held Seminole currently provides “wellhead-to-burner-tip” natural gas marketing services to end users and producers in 13 states, primarily in the Southwest, Midwest, Mid-Continent, and Inter-Mountain regions of the United States. In Illinois and Michigan, Seminole operates under its affiliate brands, Vanguard Energy Services and Lakeshore Energy Services, respectively. Seminole’s customer base today numbers over 50,000 with average daily sales of 600 million cubic feet.

“Our goal is to seize opportunities to expand our retail natural gas marketing capabilities and to acquire or joint-venture midstream assets when we see a nice fit for our existing operations or strategic entry into new markets,” said Robert (Bob) B. Rosene, Jr., Seminole’s chief executive officer.

Since it was founded in 1998, Seminole has completed 15 acquisitions consistent with management’s strategy to expand its geographic footprint of both retail marketing and midstream assets. During 2005 and 2006, the company completed acquisitions totaling $35 million, including additional interests in gathering assets, the purchase of the retail book of Tri-Star Producer Services of Texas, LP, and acquisition of Midwest United Energy Inc., with offices in Colorado and Kansas. The latter two transactions added 30,000 customers and 23 billion cubic feet of retail natural gas sales.

“We are excited about our partnership with Seminole,” said K. Rick Turner, senior managing principal of The Stephens Group. “We were impressed by their management team’s collective industry experience and ability to grow the business to over $1 billion in annual revenues in such a short period of time. Stephens Production Company, an affiliate company of The Stephens Group, has done business with the principals of Seminole for many years and we have always appreciated their and commitment to service. This investment will allow the company to continue to grow into new markets and provide capital for opportunistic acquisitions,” he added.

According to Rosene, “We believe The Stephens Group brings a strategic value to Seminole over and above their financial investment in the company. The firm’s principals have participated in this industry for more than 50 years with consistent results and performance, and they fully understand the energy industry and what it takes to grow our business.”

ABOUT SEMINOLE ENERGY SERVICES, LLC

Seminole Energy Services is primarily engaged in providing: full-service retail natural gas marketing to commercial, industrial, agricultural, government and residential choice customers; full-service purchasing from producers, including well-head distribution and risk management; and midstream services, including building and operating natural gas gathering, processing and treating facilities. The company’s mission is to create long-term customer relationships based on a commitment to exceptional customer service, industry experience and commercial expertise.

ABOUT THE STEPHENS GROUP, LLC

The Stephens Group is a private, family-owned firm that invests its capital in private companies with exceptional management teams and high returns on invested capital in growing industries. The principals of The Stephens Group have over 70 years of history successfully investing in both minority and control positions across multiple industries. The Stephens Group, through its affiliates, has large positions in natural gas exploration and production, media, communications, consumer, manufacturing and other industries. The Stephens Group typically provides equity capital of $5 million to $75 million per transaction and looks to invest $100-$200 million per year.