Certain

EXCO Resources Inc. said Friday it will pay $860 million cash for Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s interests in certain natural gas properties in the Mid-Continent, South Texas and Oklahoma. The sale, to be effective Jan. 1, 2007, represents the second package of properties EXCO has bought from Anadarko in as many months.

The full potential of geothermal energy is not being realized in certain parts of the U.S. due to a “chicken and egg game” involving the way in which the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) handles leases, the executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) recently said.

Citing current inventory levels and scheduled storage shut-in testing, Dominion said an OFO will take effect Wednesday. It said it has taken certain actions that will affect Appalachian pool operators bringing gas into the Dominion system. In order to preserve the pipeline’s ability to receive gas for injection from firm customers, the OFO requires all shippers to ensure that all confirmed scheduled nominations for receipts will equal deliveries. See the bulletin board for other conditions of the OFO.

Despite the projected loss of billions of dollars to the federal government, the failure of certain Interior Department employees to include price thresholds in deepwater oil and gas leases in 1998 and 1999 does not rise to the level of criminal activity, the department Inspector General Earl Devaney told a House Government Reform subcommittee Wednesday.

While the fate of the Alaska pipeline project remains far from certain and any federal application for its construction could be years away, the federal government is wasting no time preparing for the application process. The Department of Energy (DOE) said Thursday that it has joined 14 other federal departments and agencies in signing an agreement to expedite the permitting and construction of the project.

FERC on Thursday granted Mississippi Hub LLC an exemption from Section 7 certificate requirements to conduct certain temporary activities to assess the economic and technical feasibility of developing a natural gas storage facility in southern Mississippi.

Citing record storage inventory levels and cool weather in certain parts of the country, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revised downward its Henry Hub spot price forecast for the year in its Short-Term Energy Outlook to $7.74/Mcf from the $8.11/Mcf that was projected last month, and ratcheted down its average price forecast for 2007 to $8.81/Mcf from its May prediction of $9.17/Mcf. But an active hurricane season, as has been predicted for this year, could cause the spot price projections to sharply reverse direction in late summer, the EIA said.

Citing record storage inventory levels and cool weather in certain parts of the country, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revised downward its Henry Hub spot price forecast for the year in its Short-Term Energy Outlook to $7.74/Mcf from the $8.11/Mcf that was projected last month, and ratcheted down its average price forecast for 2007 to $8.81/Mcf from its May prediction of $8.39/Mcf. But an active hurricane season, as has been predicted for this year, could cause the spot price projections to sharply reverse direction in late summer, the EIA said.

Power authorities in New York and Texas are predicting ample electricity supplies for this summer, but the years ahead are less certain. New York still must resolve siting issues that are impeding generation capacity growth, some say. And Texas must be mindful that the plants that generators are planning to build actually come to fruition.