Exco Resources Inc., a U.S. oil and natural-gas producer whose shares have more than doubled this year, said it acquired oil and natural-gas properties in East Texas from private sellers for about $252 million.

Exco plans to finance the purchase with a $300 million senior unsecured loan, the Dallas-based company said today in a statement. The company did not identify the sellers.

The properties produce the equivalent of more than 15 million cubic feet of gas a day and contain proved reserves estimated at 109 billion, the company said. Exco's daily production in the first quarter was equivalent to 386 million cubic feet of gas.

About $20 million will be spent this year to drill nine wells on the acquired properties, according to the statement. At least one well this year will test for gas in the Bossier and Haynesville shale formations, the company said.

The Haynesville Shale region in Texas is drawing the interest of companies such as Chesapeake Energy Corp. Chesapeake said on July 2 it would sell a stake in its Haynesville Shale acreage for more than $3 billion, valuing its holdings in the region at about $16.5 billion.

Exco fell $1.84, or 5 percent, to $35.28 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Dropping crude oil and natural-gas prices pulled down stock prices at most North American energy companies.