Nabors Industries, Inergy L.P. announce separate merger deals By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of petroleum producers rose with crude-oil futures Monday, while natural-gas shares dipped as a pair of mergers popped up on Wall Street's radar screen. Providing some support for the energy sector, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 10,690, +36.33, +0.34%) made modest early gains, partly on optimism about prospects for the European economy. In energy futures, the September crude contract climbed past $81 a barrel. See Futures Movers. Among energy-sector benchmarks, the NYSE Arca Oil Index (XOI 1,024, +3.82, +0.37%) rose 0.4% to 1,024. The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index (XNG 532.50, +0.01, +0.00%) dipped 0.2% to 531, while the Philadelphia Oil Service Index (OSX 187.95, -0.30, -0.16%) fell fractionally. Shares of BP (UK:BP. 433.25, +7.90, +1.86%) (BP 41.30, -0.03, -0.07%) rose fractionally in New York, up 17 cents to $41.50, as the oil major said that it believes "static kill" and cementing procedures have been successful and that there is currently no oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from its MC252 well. BP also said that it continues to make progress on the relief well that commenced on May 2. The cost of the response to date amounts to about $6.1 billion, BP added. On the deals front, Nabors Industries (NBR 18.18, +0.20, +1.11%) agreed to buy Superior Well Services Inc. (SWSI 22.01, +3.78, +20.74%) for $22.12 a share in cash, the companies said. Terms of the transaction, valued at $900 million, mean Nabors is paying a premium of 21% over Friday's closing price of $18.23 a share for Superior Well. Acquiring Superior Well is expected to add "significantly" to profit for 2011, said Gene Isenberg, Nabors' chairman and CEO. "In addition to the upside associated with expanding internationally, we expect to derive significant synergies in North America by integrating pumping services with our drilling and workover offerings," Isenberg said. Shares of Superior Well rallied 21% to $22.01, while Nabors Industries rose 0.7% to $18.11. Also Monday, Inergy L.P. (NRGY 42.67, -0.70, -1.61%) said it'll buy Inergy Holdings L.P. (NRGP 32.73, +0.88, +2.76%) in a deal that values the combined energy partnership at about $6 billion. Inergy L.P. said its current cash distribution rate of $2.82 a year will be unchanged as a result of the deal. Under terms of the transaction, owners of Inergy Holdings will receive 0.77 of an Inergy L.P. common unit in exchange for each of their common units. Units of Inergy L.P. fell 1% to $42.95, with Inergy Holdings rising 3% to 32.80. And in the utilities segment, shares of Constellation Energy (CEG 30.38, +0.13, +0.41%) rose 0.4% to $30.37. The Baltimore-based company said it's bidding about $1 billion to buy a group of power plants out of bankruptcy.

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