More than 76 Bcf of natural gas, or 240,000 MMBtu/d, was sold to four companies — Constellation Energy Commodities Group Inc., Oneok Energy Services Co., Sempra Energy Trading and Shell Energy North America — in a federal Royalty in Kind (RIK) onshore gas sale conducted in early October by the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS). Eleven companies submitted 75 bids for RIK gas located on federal lands in the Jonah-Pinedale area in western Wyoming. The gas was sold under five- or 12-month contracts, with delivery scheduled to begin on Nov.1. If current natural gas prices in the area were to remain at $5/MMBtu, the sale would equate to more than $384 million in total gross revenues, MMS stated. Wyoming will receive nearly 50% of the revenues generated by the sale of gas from federal lands in the state.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has scheduled a public conference on the “State of the Natural Gas Infrastructure” for Friday, Nov. 21. The conference will focus on natural gas demand and supply issues as they relate to the development of the domestic natural gas industry and the effect upon infrastructure. At last November’s “State of the Natural Gas Industry Conference,” the Commission heard that a major problem was a shortage of skilled labor for pipeline construction. The 2008 conference will run from approximately 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. ET in the Commission Meeting Room in Washington, DC. An agenda will be issued at a later date. All interested persons may attend and FERC commissioners are expected to participate.

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