Basin

Magnum Hunter Resources Inc. on Monday closed its $31.3 million deal announced a month ago to buy the Delaware Basin oil and gas reserves and related assets of Denver-based Mallon Resources Corp. (see Daily GPI, Aug 14). The properties had proved reserves of 41.8 Bcfe on Dec. 31, 2000, and include Mallon’s interest in 23 fields with 141 producing wells and 13,741 net acres.

With the news that its second-quarter net income doubled from the same period last year, Calgary-based PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. said Tuesday it would boost its capital budget almost 51% through the rest of the year, with 26% targeted toward high impact exploration. The increase, said the company, would allow it to take advantage of “new opportunities and pursue an aggressive plan of delivering further growth.”

More than one trader was more than a bit surprised at the price run-up in most markets Tuesday in two-day deals covering the Fourth of July holiday, which normally is considered one of the lowest demand periods of the year. Only Rockies/San Juan/Pacific Northwest points and a few Northeast citygates softened, in contrast with numbers elsewhere that ranged from flat to about 15 cents higher outside California and gains at California points that exceeded half a dollar.

Virtually all eastern points, along with the Permian Basin/Waha market, yielded to weak weather fundamentals and expectations of another large advance in storage injections by dropping about a dime or slightly more Tuesday. However, a spreading West Coast heat wave kept Rockies/San Juan/Pacific Northwest numbers and those related to the Northern California market strongly on the rise.

CIG plans smart pigging of the Uinta Basin Lateral in late May. On May 23 and again on May 27, flow from Natural Buttes Compressor Station must be cut to about 100 MMcf/d for about 10 hours each day. For 27 hours beginning on May 25 and again on May 29 for about 27 hours, flow from Greasewood Station to Wamsutter Station must be reduced to about 100 MMcf/d. Construction work related to the Pipeline Integrity Program (PIP) will require the shut-in of Table Rock Residue volumes for 16 hours on May 17. PIP construction will require sections of the Wyoming mainline between the Laramie and Cheyenne Compressor Stations to be removed from service for short periods (less than 24 hours) May 1 and 2 and again May 10-12. Impact to service is expected to be minimal. No service intereruption is anticipated during May 7-8 PIP construction between Cheyenne Compressor Station and the Cheyenne meter station.

Except for falling San Juan Basin and Malin numbers, prices sawfairly substantial rebounds in post-weekend trading Monday. Coldweather prevailing throughout most of the eastern U.S., highlightedby a potentially severe winter storm developing in the Northeast,plus a large loss of offshore production, were primarilyresponsible for the firmness, sources said.

Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. increased its presence inthe East Texas Bossier sand gas play yesterday, spending $38million to acquire Pinnacle Gas Treating Inc., which owns andoperates a natural gas pipeline and treating plant there. Pinnacleis a subsidiary of Western Gas Resources Inc. based in Denver, andit plans to use the sale to pay down debt.

Because of interest in moving more natural gas from the prolificPiceance Basin in northwest Colorado to interconnects withNorthwest Pipeline Co. in Rio Blanco County, CO, and QuestarPipeline Co. in Utah, Colorado Interstate Gas has begun an openseason to solicit support for expanding its Parachute CreekLateral.

El Paso continued its unauthorized overpull penalty situationyesterday in the San Juan Basin (see Daily GPI, Nov. 9).