Following an appraisal of its deepwater Droshky prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, Marathon Oil Corp. estimates the discovery holds mean recoverable resource of 80-90 MMboe. The Droshky discovery is located in 2,900 feet of water on Green Canyon Block 244, about 137 miles south-southwest of Venice, LA. The appraisal process consisted of drilling a down dip sidetrack well and a lateral sidetrack well. The wells are about two miles south of the Troika Field Production System. The initial well was drilled to a total depth of 21,190 feet and encountered 250 feet of net oil pay. The down dip appraisal sidetrack encountered more than 600 feet of net oil pay, while the lateral sidetrack encountered 300 feet of net oil pay. All pay intervals are Upper Miocene in age. Marathon expects to produce the field via subsea completions through the Troika system and Bullwinkle Platform, with terms already in place. The timing of initial production will be dependent upon delivery of key equipment (i.e., drilling rig and subsea equipment) and regulatory approvals, but could be as early as 2010. Marathon holds a 100% working interest in the Droshky prospect and a 50% working interest in the Troika unit.

Calgary-based Paramount Resources Ltd. will sell its oilsands leases and shut-in and producing natural gas rights in the Surmont area of northeastern Alberta to MEG Energy Corp. for C$301.7 million (US$284.2 million). MEG, whose business focuses on oilsands development in Alberta, will pay for the deal half in cash and half in its common shares. Paramount also entered into five separate agreements with undisclosed buyers to sell about 860 boe/d for C$30.5 million. No other details on the agreements were disclosed. Both transactions are scheduled to close by the end of June. With the equity investment in MEG, Paramount said it will continue to participate in the potential development of steam-assisted Athabasca oilsands, principally at Surmont and Christina Lake, AB, without any additional capital commitments. MEG is 17% owned by CNOOC Ltd., the Chinese state-controlled oil company.

Credit Suisse Group Inc. agreed to pay Enron Corp. creditors $61.5 million to settle a lawsuit related to equity transactions. The settlement resolves all bankruptcy proceedings involving Credit Suisse. The Swiss banker admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, which remains subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Equity transaction lawsuits are still pending against Bear Stearns Cos. and UBS AG. Houston-based Enron Creditors Recovery Corp. legally changed its name from Enron Corp. on March 1. It exists to sell assets, pay debts and conduct litigation. In April, Enron said it had distributed $11.5 billion to creditors.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has extended the time to file comments in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) aimed at implementing the transparency provisions of the Energy Policy Act (AD06-11) and the staff has scheduled an informal workshop to discuss various implementation and other technical issues associated with the NOPR. The Commission said the extension was in response to a request by the Texas Gas Pipeline Association (TPA). The notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) would require intrastate gas pipelines to post on the Internet the daily capacities and volumes of natural gas flowing through their major receipt and delivery points. It also would require buyers and sellers of more than de minimus amounts of natural gas to report the numbers and volumes of relevant transactions for the previous calendar year. It also would require each holder of blanket marketing certificate authority or blanket unbundled sales services certificate authority to notify the Commission annually as to whether it reports its transactions to publishers of electricity or natural gas price indexes and whether the reporting conforms to certain standards. FERC extended the time for filing initial comments through July 11. Reply comments should be filed on or before Aug. 9. Questions about the conference should be directed to Lee Choo, lee-ken.choo@FERC.gov, (202) 502-6334.

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