The National Energy Board is seeking feedback from interested parties on a discussion paper outlining its proposed Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) program. The document describes options for settling disputes as an addition to the board’s traditional regulatory process. The board is welcoming the public’s input, comments and questions on all aspects of the design of the program and the contents of the ADR document. Comments received by Nov. 5 will assist in developing program guidelines. The ADR discussion paper are available on the board’s web site at www.neb-one.gc.ca under “What’s New.”

The Federal Trade Commission approved the Shell Oil Co.’s $1.8 billion of Pennzoil Quaker State Co. and the merger was expected to be completed by Tuesday, Shell said in statement. The FTC conditioned its approval on Pennzoil selling its interest in a company that makes the feed stock used in high-performance motor oil, saying the cost of such motor oil would otherwise probably increase because of the lack of competition. The companies have agreed to the required divestitures. Pennzoil will be combined with Shell’s lubricants unit. The new company will then become a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell Oil Co., which in turn is a division of Royal Dutch/Shell Group. The merger is expected to result in the loss of about 1,230 jobs, or about 15% of the workforce within the two motor oil companies, as they combine overlapping operations, according to company executives. Pennzoil Quaker State has about 7,400 workers worldwide, while the Shell lubrication unit employs about 800 workers. Royal Dutch/Shell Group announced the planned purchase last year, saying it would pay $22 for each share of Pennzoil Quaker State stock and assume $1.1 billion of its debt.

Superior Energy Services Inc. warned that its third quarter earnings will be negatively impacted by the effects of four tropical storms in September, including Tropical Storm Isidore and now Hurricane Lily, which significantly reduced revenues from oilfield services in the Gulf of Mexico. The company believes its third quarter earnings per share will be in the range of 2-4 cents compared to an average of 10 cents/share expected by Wall Street analysts, according to Thomson First Call. CEO Terry Hall said the storms effectively negated much of the earnings from the prior months during the quarter. “All of our services were impacted and our available liftboat days were cut by at least 50% in September. Several of these liftboats also contained bundled services projects, which resulted in additional downtime for well intervention services. Although the risk of weather is always present this time of year, the actual weather disruption in September was greater than in years past. The projects we were working on prior to weather disruptions will be completed in the fourth quarter.” Superior provides a broad range of specialized oilfield services and equipment primarily to major and independent oil and gas companies engaged in the exploration, production and development of oil and natural gas properties offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Gulf Coast region.

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