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With its stock price depressed since accounting irregularitiescame to light in one of its divisions, Baker Hughes Inc. and two ofits senior officers now have been named in securities fraudlawsuits filed last week in U.S. District Court for the SouthernDistrict of Texas. Suits were filed on behalf of investors whobought Baker Hughes common stock May 3 through Dec. 8.

Houston-based Conoco, which recently came out from under thewing of DuPont, launched a corporate advertising campaign that willtout its ability to compete against the “super-majors.” Conococompleted its separation in August and returned to the New YorkStock Exchange, trading under the symbols COC.A and COC.B.

Houston-based Conoco, which recently came from under the wing ofDuPont, launched a corporate advertising campaign that will toutits ability to compete against the “super-majors.” Conoco completedits separation in August and returned to the New York StockExchange, trading under the symbols COC.A and COC.B.

For the fourth session in a row yesterday natural gas futuresopened lower and came under immediate downward pressure as tradersgrappled with warm weather forecasts. However, after notching a$2.81 low during the first hour of trading the December contractwas led higher by a combination of local and trade buying. Theprompt contract finished the day down 7.7 cents at $2.837.

After a string of high-inventory OFOs this summer, usually onweekends but occasionally on a weekday, Pacific Gas & Electriccame up with a new wrinkle Tuesday: a low-inventory OFO takingeffect today with a 3% tolerance for negative daily imbalances. Theutility projected that its linepack would remain below targetlevels through Friday.

Fourteen consecutive months of declining drilling rigutilization came to an end in July, according to Global Marine’smost recent SCORE report, or Summary of Current Offshore RigEconomics. And the Gulf of Mexico appears to be leading theturnaround.

Fourteen consecutive months of declining drilling rigutilization came to an end in July, according to Global Marine’smost recent SCORE report, or Summary of Current Offshore RigEconomics. And the Gulf of Mexico appears to be leading theturnaround.

There appears to have been a minor shake-up at the Natural GasSupply Association (NGSA) last week. It came during Skip Horvath’sfirst week as president of the producer group that’s still reelingfrom the effects of an embezzlement scandal uncovered earlier inthe year.

It’s been a year since the completion of its C$11 billion mergerwith Nova Corp., but TransCanada Pipelines finally came through onpromised savings yesterday. The pipeline company said it will give$70 million in merger-related savings to its pipeline customersthrough “targeted operating cost reductions.” An agreement on thereductions was filed with Canada’s National Energy Board and theAlberta Energy and Utilities Board yesterday.