Barrett

A bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers urged U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell this week to sign off on an agreement that would end a decade-long dispute over natural gas leasing on the Roan Plateau, a settlement worked out between the energy industry and conservation groups.

In a $757 million deal to transform into a majority oil company, Bill Barrett Corp. has agreed to sell the majority of its acreage in the Powder River Basin (PRB) and its remaining position in the Piceance Basin, in exchange for additional acreage in the Wattenberg Field, the company said Tuesday.

A federal judge last Monday certified five separate class action cases against EQT Corp. and Consol Energy Corp. that could potentially add up to 15,000 plaintiffs in Southwest Virginia alleging that the companies cheated them out of millions of dollars in royalty payments (seeDaily GPI,Sept. 18). In dispute are past payments for coalbed methane (CBM) gas production in the far western corner of the state dating back 23 years.

Antero Resources LLC, the Appalachian Basin-focused powerhouse powered by private equity giant Warburg Pincus, said Monday net production in 1Q2013 jumped 114% year/year and increased 21% sequentially, primarily driven by 24 new wells brought online in the Marcellus Shale.

Gas-weighted Rockies producers such as Bill Barrett Corp., Questar Corp., Ultra Petroleum and The Williams Companies face margin compression in the near term while they wait for the next increments of the Rockies Express pipeline to come online at the beginning of 2008 and mid-2009, according to Raymond James & Associates Inc.

Gas-weighted Rockies producers such as Bill Barrett Corp., Questar Corp., Ultra Petroleum and The Williams Companies face margin compression in the near term while they wait for the next increments of the Rockies Express pipeline to come online at the beginning of 2008 and mid-2009, according to Raymond James & Associates Inc.

Altra President Dixie Barrett Paden said last winter’s high gas prices, competition from IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), TradeSpark and other electronic trading systems, and skyrocketing credit insurance costs since Enron’s downfall will force the company to shut down its electronic natural gas trading system at the end of this month. Altra informed traders of the decision in a letter last week (see Daily GPI, March 5). Altra also is talking with potential buyers about its successful Chalkboard liquids trading platform.

It was a rocky week for Williams, which delayed its final earnings estimate Tuesday in order to evaluate contingent liabilities with its spin-off Williams Communications Group (WCG), an action that sparked a rash of investor lawsuits and split the two main ratings agencies down the middle. Late Friday Moody’s Investor Service confirmed Williams ratings, and classified them as stable, while even later Friday Standard and Poor’s (S&P) placed Williams and subsidiaries on CreditWatch with negative implications.

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) named BarrettHatches president and CEO. Hatches, who will join NIPSCO April 2,will oversee all natural gas and electric distribution operationsof the utility serving more than 700,000 natural gas customers and430,000 electric customers across the northern third of Indiana.Hatches also will serve as CEO of NiSource’s other Indiana naturalgas distribution companies, Northern Indiana Fuel and Light, andKokomo Gas and Fuel. Hatches, 45, currently is president and CEO ofAlaska-based ENSTAR Natural Gas, a gas distribution subsidiary ofSEMCO ENERGY.