April

ConocoPhillips on Thursday said it expects to see higher sequential 2Q2006 oil and gas production over 1Q2006, mostly on the acquisition of Burlington Resources Inc. (see Daily GPI, April 3). Meanwhile, BP plc, already beset by safety problems at some of its refinery units and an alleged propane price-fixing scheme (see Daily GPI, June 29), expects its quarterly output to fall about 2.5% from a year ago.

FERC on Wednesday rejected El Paso Natural Gas’ hotly disputed compliance tariff filing that was submitted in late April, agreeing with shippers that the pipeline failed to follow many of the agency’s directives that were contained in an earlier order.

Duke Energy, which completed its merger with Cinergy in April, said Friday it will sell its commercial marketing and trading business to lower its risk profile. The affected operations include Cinergy Marketing and Trading LP and Cinergy Canada Inc., along with some subsidiaries and affiliates.

El Paso Natural Gas shippers on Monday called on FERC to reject the pipeline’s rate compliance filing that was submitted in late April, saying it flagrantly disregarded the agency’s order and was another attempt by the pipeline to cloud an already complex rate case.

Houston-based Noble Energy Inc. said Tuesday that its Lorien field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, which began production on April 27, has now achieved its gross production target of 19,000 b/d of oil and 25 MMcf/d of natural gas. Noble’s share of the production at Lorien is currently 9,900 bbl/d of oil and and 13 MMcfd of gas.

Sugar Land, TX-based Noble Corp. announced Thursday that Chairman and CEO James C. Day will retire effective April 30, 2007, which is consistent with a long standing succession planning process within the company. Day will retire from the board and the company after 30 years of service, 24 of which he has served as CEO. The board of directors also announced that it is their intent to name Mark A. Jackson as CEO after Day’s retirement. Noble Corp. provides diversified services — including contract drilling — for the oil and gas industry internationally.

Although gas unbundling and customer choice seems to have taken a step backward in the United States (see Daily GPI, April 19), it’s still just getting started in British Columbia. Terasen Gas said Tuesday that it aims to offer new supplier options to its residential customers by May 2007, given regulatory approval.

In the story titled “El Paso Takes New Precautions in Preparation for Another Active Hurricane Season,” which ran in the April 13 edition of NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index, it was incorrectly reported that El Paso “was forced to sell off assets, issue debt and enter into new credit facilities to maintain liquidity while paying” for hurricane repairs. The hurricane costs were only one of the factors influencing liquidity. Other factors, including oil and gas derivative transactions put in place in prior years, also had an impact, creating the need to sell assets, issue debt and enter into new credit facilities.

Base case Henry Hub gas prices are expected to average only $5.83 for the gas storage injection season (April-October) and $6.50/MMBtu this year, according to the latest Monthly Gas Update from Arlington, VA-based consulting firm Energy and Environmental Analysis (EEA). The forecast excludes the potential impact of severe weather or significant hurricane activity, but factors in high gas storage levels, rising liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and a return to normal summer temperatures.