Breath

The administration of Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Tom Corbett, who is scheduled to be inaugurated in Harrisburg Jan. 18, should be a breath of fresh air for the natural gas industry, which saw outgoing Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration put state forest land off limits to drillers and push for a significant severance tax of 5% on drilling, according to Marcellus Shale Coalition President Kathryn Klaber.

The U.S. natural gas industry collectively is holding its breath to see whether the grim Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil spill disaster impacts onshore drilling one way or the other, but in the near term, a positive influence is unlikely, an energy executive said last week.

The U.S. natural gas industry collectively is holding its breath to see whether the grim Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil spill disaster impacts onshore drilling one way or the other, but in the near term, a positive influence is unlikely, an energy executive said Wednesday.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. sighed a breath of relief early last week after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld a Lake Charles, LA, federal court’s 2007 decision that the company did not have to pay the U.S. government millions of dollars in royalties on eight oil and natural gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. sighed a breath of relief Monday after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld a Lake Charles, LA, federal court’s 2007 decision that the company did not have to pay the U.S. Government millions of dollars in royalties on eight oil and natural gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

While U.S. energy interests in the Gulf of Mexico and on the coast sighed a collective breath of relief Tuesday, their counterparts in Mexico were not as lucky as Category 5 Hurricane Dean slammed the Yucatan Peninsula and threatened the country’s offshore energy infrastructure. Even though the U.S. dodged this bullet, some forecasters warned there were likely a number of other storms to come in the next few months.

Stopping to catch its breath following a busy summer on the acquisition and divestiture front, The Woodlands, TX-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said last week it is well on its way to restoring its balance sheet while putting in place permanent financing for its August acquisitions of Kerr-McGee Corp. and Western Gas Resources Inc. Following the announcement two weeks ago that it is selling its Canadian subsidiary, the company added that it is also eyeing further divestitures.

Stopping to catch its breath following a busy summer on the acquisition and divestiture front, The Woodlands, TX-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday it is well on its way to restoring its balance sheet while putting in place permanent financing for its August 2006 acquisitions of Kerr-McGee Corp. and Western Gas Resources Inc. Following the announcement last week that it is selling its Canadian subsidiary, the company added that it is also eyeing further divestitures.

Taking a break from the large daily terading ranges of the last few weeks, traders used Tuesday’s session to catch their breath and regroup. After trading within a slim 16-cent range during Tuesday’s regular session, September natural gas ended up closing out the day at $6.861, down 5.2 cents from Monday.