Apparent

The apparent lack of news concerning Utah’s energy resources could lead some to conclude that there’s not much happening in the Beehive state, but it’s actually buzzing with natural gas activity. Gas volumes don’t approach the numbers from better-known gas basins in Wyoming and Colorado, but with more producers exploring the Natural Buttes field in the Uinta Basin, the state issued a record 2,062 drilling permits in 2006, a 27% increase over the previous record set in 2005.

The apparent lack of news concerning Utah’s energy resources could lead some to conclude that there’s not much happening in the Beehive state, but it’s actually buzzing with natural gas activity. Gas volumes don’t approach the numbers from better-known gas basins in Wyoming and Colorado, but with more producers exploring the Natural Buttes field in the Uinta Basin, the state issued a record 2,062 drilling permits in 2006, a 27% increase over the previous record set in 2005.

Gazprom’s apparent decision to target the future production of its undeveloped but vast Shtokman natural gas field to Europe instead of the United States will have little effect on future U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets, some analysts said.

Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s apparent president-elect, holds a resume that on paper would appear to give him an edge in boosting Mexico’s energy fortunes. Harvard-educated and well-connected, Calderon served as energy minister under outgoing President Vicente Fox for nine months (see NGI, June 7, 2004; Sept. 15, 2003). But if Calderon succeeds Fox into office this December, his impressive credentials are expected to matter very little in a country apparently more concerned about national pride than its stagnant energy resources.

Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s apparent president-elect, holds a resume that on paper would appear to give him an edge in boosting Mexico’s energy fortunes. Harvard-educated and well-connected, Calderon served as energy minister under outgoing President Vicente Fox for nine months (see Daily GPI, June 2, 2004; Sept. 9, 2003). But if Calderon succeeds Fox into office this December, his impressive credentials are expected to matter very little in a country apparently more concerned about national pride than its stagnant energy resources.

Federal prosecutor John Hueston finished his cross-examination of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay on Monday, focusing on Lay’s apparent ignorance in late 2001 of the company’s financial problems. And in a “gotcha” moment before passing the witness, Hueston told the jury that Lay’s wife sold 500,000 shares of Enron stock just hours before the official news was released that a merger between Dynegy Inc. and Enron had failed.

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.

With an apparent stalemate in settlement negotiations, the California Attorney General Bill Lockyer will file a lawsuit against Sempra Energy’s trading unit alleging “Enron-like” wholesale energy market manipulation tactics during the western energy crisis four years.

Against the backdrop of apparent voter confusion, strong opposition from various state newspaper editorial boards and a thumbs down from all five members of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), Proposition 80, California’s retail electricity reregulation ballot initiative, was rejected by California voters last Tuesday. The rejection was part of a broader avalanche of opposition at the ballot box to a number of initiatives up for consideration this year in the state.