Announcing

MRT cited high linepack in announcing that a System Protection Warning will take effect Friday until further notice. See the bulletin board for SPW requirements.

World energy prices are high not because of a physical supply shortage, but because of “anxiety about the reliability of supply,” said BP CEO John Browne Wednesday in announcing the release of BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2006.

Chevron Corp. on Friday joined other top oil majors in reporting colossal quarterly earnings, announcing profit of $4 billion ($1.80/share) for 1Q2006, two cents ahead of Wall Street estimates and up from year-ago profit of $2.68 billion ($1.28/share). Total revenue, including sales and income from equity affiliates, reached $54.62 billion, up from $41.6 billion. Sales jumped 32% to $53.52 billion, well ahead of the $40.49 billion reported in 1Q2005.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) shocked even the most veteran industry prognosticators Thursday, announcing an “incredibly bearish” 1 Bcf addition to natural gas storage inventories for Christmas week. The injection, which sparked questions about the report’s validity, sent February natural gas plunging lower Thursday to settle at $9.499, down 69.8 cents for the day.

Pennsylvania-based Southern Union Co. extended its nationwide natural gas pipeline network Friday, announcing it will pay $1.6 billion in cash to purchase the privately held Sid Richardson Energy Services Co. of Fort Worth. The company, started by legendary wildcatter Sid Richardson and his nephew Perry Bass in 1947, includes 4,000 miles of gas pipe in West Texas and New Mexico.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. moved in on Appalachia Wednesday, announcing it had closed its previously announced acquisition of Columbia Natural Resources, LLC (CNR) and certain affiliated entities from Triana Energy Holdings, LLC, including producing properties, reserves and midstream assets. The purchase price was $2.95 billion, which consisted of $2.2 billion in cash and $0.75 billion in liabilities assumed at closing.

BP is raising its stake in North American natural gas, announcing it will invest up to $2.2 billion to double production from its acreage in the Wamsutter gas field in the Rocky Mountains. The multiyear drilling program is expected to increase BP’s share of ultimate recovery from the Wyoming field by 450 MMboe and increase daily net production 125-250 MMcf/d by the end of the decade.

Damage estimates by oil and natural gas producers and pipeline operators hit by back-to-back Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are slowly trickling in, but already, some are announcing they will be unable to hit their third quarter production targets.

Houston-based independent Pogo Producing Co. took a huge strategic leap on Monday, announcing it will purchase Unocal Corp.’s Canadian subsidiary Northrock Resources Ltd. for $1.8 billion in cash. The transaction will boost Pogo’s proven reserves by an estimated 45%.