Chief

Chevron Corp. plans to pull down all of its active natural gas land rigs operating in the Lower 48 states by the end of the year, the company’s exploration chief said Friday.

Chevron Corp. plans to pull down all of its active natural gas land rigs operating in the Lower 48 states by the end of the year, the company’s exploration chief said Friday.

Following a meeting with the chief investment officer for the United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG), a team of analysts with Citi Investment Research & Analysis said due to the fund’s rapid growth and significant size, it could be “propping up” front month natural gas prices at the indirect expense of the back end of the natural gas 12-month strip.

Following a meeting with the chief investment officer for the United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG), a team of analysts with Citi Investment Research & Analysis said due to the fund’s rapid growth and significant size, it could be “propping up” front month natural gas prices at the indirect expense of the back end of the natural gas 12-month strip.

Royal Dutch Shell plc’s incoming chief executive Wednesday announced a restructuring intended to streamline operations, cut overhead and speed decision-making. The changes are expected to affect thousands of the company’s 102,000 employees. The move follows project delays and cost overruns that have angered investors.

As an outgrowth of a green jobs law passed last year by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state’s chief executive Monday launched the California Green Corps, a community college-based effort to prepare workers for jobs in the renewable energy and environmental sectors.

California chief utility regulator Michael Peevey signaled Thursday that he will attempt to have the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) investigate the status of executive compensation at the state’s major private-sector utilities, which are all among the nation’s largest.

Apache Corp. CEO G. Steven Farris has formed an office of the chief executive, which will include CFO Roger B. Plank, Co-COO John A. Crum and Co-COO Rodney J. Eichler. Plank, Crum and Eichler have separate functional responsibilities, but “they will have joint and equal roles in the daily decision making and direction of the company,” Farris said. In addition to his current responsibilities, Plank will lead the business development, internal audit and policy and governance groups. Crum will lead the Gulf Coast, central and Canada regions, as well as the worldwide drilling, corporate environmental health and safety and purchasing groups. Eichler will lead the North Sea, Egypt, Australia and Argentina regions.

Less than a week after the award of a license giving his company the concession to construct an Alaska North Slope gas pipeline to the Lower 48, the chief executive of TransCanada Corp. has called attention to potential cost hikes with remarks suggesting that the company might seek increased federal loan guarantees for the project.