Appalachia

Penn Virginia Corp., headquartered in Radnor, PA, has retainedWaterous & Co. to assist with the potential sale of a portionof the company’s Appalachia oil and gas properties. The properties,with an estimated 70 Bcfe of proved reserves are 97% natural gas.Current net production from the properties is 7 MMcf/d. A data roomto review detailed property information is expected to open inHouston later this month. More information is available atwww.waterous.com.

Weekend cash prices hit a plateau Friday in theMidcontinent/Midwest, Gulf Coast and Appalachia, but softened inthe Northeast and at most western points.

Equitable Resources ascended to the throne of Appalachian basinproducers yesterday by agreeing to purchase all of Statoil Energy’sassets in the region for $630 million. The deal is expected to becompleted next month, Statoil said.

Cash price changes for the weekend varied widely, ranging fromrelative flatness in Appalachia and Northeast citygates to drops of10-20 cents at the California border. The big weakness inCalifornia numbers was due to trader fears of weekend OperationalFlow Orders by SoCal Gas and PG&E, whether or not they evermaterialized, sources said. (Neither utility had an OFO in effectas of Saturday.) However, SoCal was cutting all as-availablestorage injections, helping to keep Topock prices depressed, amarketer said.