A partnership led by Marathon Petroleum Corp. will buy MarkWest Energy Partners LP for $15.8 billion in one of the biggest oil-patch deals since crude prices have slumped. “The deal will marry Marathon’s oil pipeline network with MarkWest’s business separating natural gas into fuels such as propane and ethane.

The combined company would have a market capitalization of $21 billion, making it the fourth-largest master limited partnership. These partnerships, which typically own infrastructure like pipelines that earn steady revenue from long-term contracts, have fared better than traditional drilling companies during the energy downturn but still have faced headwinds.” [WSJ]

Tony Hayward, former CEO of BP, is prepared to sell Genel Energy, the lossmaking Kurdistan oil producer he co-founded. “Mr Hayward, who has stepped back from his role as chief executive to become Genel’s chairman, signalled his readiness to negotiate a deal, telling the Financial Times that he would “always contemplate interesting offers” for the group, which he set up with financier Nat Rothschild and former Goldman Sachs banker Julian Metherell.” [FT]

Connecticut is the state where households spend the most on energy according to a WalletHub finance report released on Monday ranking each state by the average household spending on electricity, natural gas, fuel oil and gasoline. “The personal finance website site took all the spending on each category and divided it by the number of housing units (or in the case of gasoline, the number of drivers).

Connecticut households spent an average of $410 a month for all energy, WalletHub said, based on the latest federal data for each energy or fuel type. In the No. 2 state, Wyoming, average households spend $355 a month, mostly to pay for gasoline.” [Hartford Courant]