Chief

BP plc’s former chief of natural gas liquids trading has accused the company of wrongfully firing him to manipulate the U.S. market.

The state of Texas is losing billions of dollar because of tax rate deductions for shale gas wells using hydraulic fracturing that are classified as “high cost wells,” according to a report by the state Legislative Budget Board (LBB).

In a soon-to-be released study, the chief economist of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has found that high-speed traders (HFT) are moving in on the profits of traditional investors in financial markets.

The different structures of the natural gas and power markets, disparate scheduling cycles and interstate natural gas pipeline constraints are the chief barriers to the efficient coordination of the two markets in the Northeast, regulators and industry officials said Monday.

The chief issue facing the electric industry as it seeks to coordinate with interstate natural gas pipelines is how far is it willing to go to ensure the reliability of the power grid, interstate pipeline officials said Friday.

The chief issue facing the electric industry as it seeks to coordinate with interstate natural gas pipelines is how far is it willing to go to ensure the reliability of the power grid, interstate pipeline officials said Friday.

Halcon Resources Corp., run by the former chief of shale powerhouse Petrohawk Energy Corp., and GeoResources Inc. have agreed to merge in a cash-and-stock transaction worth an estimated $1 billion. The combined company would have an onshore portfolio of opportunities across the Midcontinent, with a core area in the Bakken Shale.

The two state chief executives agreed that environmental safeguards are imperative from both the public’s and the industry’s perspective. They offered their views during a keynote panel discussion moderated by the huge annual energy confab’s founder Daniel Yergin, the well-known global energy author/expert.

Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) named Phil Bussey to a newly created position of senior vice president and chief customer officer. Bussey’s focus will be on the services PSE provides to its 1.5 million natural gas and electric utility customers and various stakeholder groups. He will join the Puget Energy combination utility in mid-March, coming from his current position as CEO of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Bussey previously served as PSE’s senior vice president for corporate affairs before taking the position heading the chamber. In his new position, he will be responsible for customer solutions, corporate affairs, and federal/state government relations.