The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has begun responding to market participant’s questions about the regulations stemming from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, namely the start date for swap data reporting and the reporting of cleared swap transactions. Compliance with the final rule is required once the agency has responded to a question or clarified a Dodd-Frank issue, said Commissioner Bart Chilton (see Daily GPI, Oct. 10). But in the event the CFTC doesn’t answer questions by Friday, Chilton said, “it would not be appropriate, reasonable or responsible for the Commission to proceed against entities for non-compliance with a Dodd-Frank rule unless and until they have received a response from the agency to an existing request.”

Devon Energy Corp. is consolidating its U.S. personnel into a single operations group at corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City and is closing its Houston office. Operational responsibilities for assets in South Texas, East Texas and Louisiana are being transferred, and the company “expects to relocate a number of employees from Houston to Oklahoma City.” The consolidation, which is expected to be completed by the end of March, is expected to lower annual costs by about $80 million and “will improve our ability to quickly shift the focus of our workforce between project areas as economic conditions dictate,” said exploration chief Dave Hager.

Privately held Chama Technologaes said it will pay $15 million in cash and 658,289 shares of its stock for a controlling interest in High Plains Gas Inc. (HPG). Two years ago an HPG subsidiary acquired the former Marathon Oil Corp. north and south fairway assets in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, which include 1,614 coalbed methane wells with associated flow lines and more than 155,000 net operated acres (see Daily GPI, Nov. 29, 2010). HPG “has experienced difficulty in maintaining profitability due, in large part, to the decline curve typical of coalbed methane wells,” said Chama, which owns the patent on a device that it says “solves this problem and will bring profitability back to these wells.” The methane “farming” technology brings methane gas molecules to the surface “by way of diffusion and osmosis,” according to the company. Last month Chama completed a merger with RWM Resources Inc. that gave the company rights to 450 natural gas wells and several oil wells.

Midstream infrastructure developer Prism Midstream LLC is partnering with Energy Spectrum Partners VI LP and has acquired interests in two Texas Gulf Coast gas gathering systems and also in Pecos Valley Producer Services LLC, which is jointly owned with an affiliate of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP. Pecos Valley offers gathering, processing and transloading services in Reeves County, TX, supporting Permian Basin producers.

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