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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved Targa Resources Inc.’s purchase of Chevron USA Inc. and Venice Gathering Co.’s combined 54% ownership interest in Venice Energy Services Co. LLC (VESCO) for an undisclosed amount.

Superior Energy Services Inc. subsidiary Wild Well Control Inc. has signed contracts with subsidiaries of BP plc, Chevron Corp. and Apache Corp. to decommission seven downed platforms, associated wellbores and other related well facilities located offshore Louisiana for a fixed sum of $750 million.

With a sharper focus on its North American operations, Devon Energy Corp. exceeded Wall Street forecasts Wednesday, increasing its natural gas-directed production by 16% and upping its profits by 5.2% from a year ago.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she is pleased that the Superior Court of Alaska has denied a motion filed by Point Thomson leaseholders ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips for a stay that would have allowed them to retain leases while they fight the state’s earlier decision to take the leases back after the companies have failed for years to develop the North Slope field.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she is pleased that the Superior Court of Alaska has denied a motion filed by Point Thomson leaseholders ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips for a stay that would have allowed them to retain leases while they fight the state’s earlier decision to take the leases back after the companies have failed for years to develop the North Slope field.

Devon Energy Corp. has a long “to-do” list of exploration activities planned in North America this year — in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, onshore in its core U.S. holdings and in emerging Canadian oilsands projects. The plans take into account rising service and labor costs, but “we’d have to see a fairly large reduction in prices” before pulling back on any planned exploration, President John Richels said. “We’re taking the longer-term view, and we’re very confident that we’ll see higher prices this year on the gas and oil side.”

Although it took a hit for uninsured Gulf of Mexico hurricane losses and despite lower domestic natural gas prices, Chevron Corp. reported net income of $4.4 billion, $1.97/diluted share, for the second quarter 2006, compared with $3.7 billion, $1.76/share, in the year-ago period, a nearly 19% increase.

Sonangol, Chevron, BP, ExxonMobil and Total, joint venture partners in the Angola LNG Project, said they have agreed to initiate a period of exclusive negotiations with Gulf LNG, developer of the Clean Energy regasification facility near Pascagoula, MS, regarding a terminal use agreement, based on their submission during a competitive bid process. The successful negotiation of this agreement will allow for 100% of the LNG produced by the Angola LNG project to be received at the Mississippi regasification facility.

Chevron Natural Gas, Sequent Energy Management LP and BP Energy Co. were the winning bidders in the Minerals Management Service’s most recent Gulf of Mexico royalty gas auction. More than 195,000 MMBtu/d of royalty gas was sold under five and 12-month terms starting Nov. 1.