Western Gas Partners has acquired a swath of natural-gas assets from Anadarko Petroleum in the D-J Basin, or the Denver-Julesburg Basin, in northeastern Colorado valued at $498 million. Western Gas---which gathers, processes, and transports gas---is expected to close the deal this month, reports The Wall Street Journal. Anadarko is among companies facing pressure from U.S. lawmakers to pay some of the costs associated with the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and to set aside cash for future expenses. "We are very excited to move into another liquids-rich basin with the acquisition of the Wattenberg assets, where producers are experiencing strong economic returns," Western Gas Partners' President and chief executive officer Don Sinclair says in a news release. Western Gas will purchase Anadarko's 100 percent ownership interest in Kerr-McGee Gathering LLC, which owns the 1,734-mile Wattenberg gathering system and related facilities, including the Fort Lupton processing plant with capacity of 105 million cubic feet per day.