2004

Five former natural gas traders who had worked at El Paso Corp., Dynegy Inc. and Reliant Energy Inc. were indicted on Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston for reporting bogus trades to industry newsletters to affect the price of natural gas.

Five former natural gas traders who had worked at El Paso Corp., Dynegy Inc. and Reliant Energy Inc. were indicted on Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston for reporting bogus trades to industry newsletters to affect the price of natural gas.

An apparent drop in Texas natural gas production over the first nine months of 2005 compared to that period in 2004 is just not so. It can be explained by companies falling behind in reporting, according to a spokesperson with the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC). Reporting was delayed for producers affected by Katrina, and several other large operators also are behind in reporting, Ramona Nye said. Numbers posted on the RRC website for the first three quarters of 2005 show production of 4,162 Bcf of gas, compared to 4,496 Bcf a year earlier. “Production is not down. There are a number of them that haven’t gotten their reports in.” The numbers continue to be adjusted for about six months after they are first posted. “They always go up,” Nye said.

ConocoPhillips expects 2005 oil and natural gas production will be flat when compared with 2004, or about 60,000 boe/d under its initial guidance, but longer term, output should rise 3%, company officials said Wednesday. This year’s shortfall was blamed on lost output under production-sharing agreements with foreign governments, as well as the Gulf Coast hurricanes in the third quarter.

The average U.S. price paid for electricity by large customers rose by 5.2% between April 2004 and April 2005, with the highest prices in New York, New Jersey and California, according to a national survey by NUS Consulting. The survey, which sampled monthly usage at 24 of the largest investor-owned utility companies in the country, said the average price of power for large customers was 7.95 cents/kWh in April, compared with 7.56 cents/kWh a year earlier.

KeySpan LNG has significantly understated the costs of implementing security measures to deal with the risks associated with the company’s proposal to upgrade its liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facility in Providence, RI, to an import terminal, Rhode Island Gov. Donald L. Carcieri said Thursday. He called on FERC to direct the company to pay additional security-related costs.

ExxonMobil Corp. hiked CEO Lee Raymond’s income by 37% to $38.1 million in 2004 after the oil major’s net income was the second highest in U.S. history.

ExxonMobil Corp. hiked CEO Lee Raymond’s income by 37% to $38.1 million in 2004 after the oil major’s net income was the second highest in U.S. history.

With about a 10 Bcf withdrawal expected in this week’s storage report, working gas levels will end the withdrawal season with nearly 187 Bcf more in storage than average over the last 11 years, according to the Energy Information Administration’s data. That will mean more gas to meet summer power demand, but it probably won’t be enough to put downward pressure on prices, according to two industry experts.