Closer

Still reeling from the bludgeoning Thursday tied to a round of bearish natural gas supply news, the natural gas futures market continued to sink closer to the $3.810 low for the larger downtrend. June futures recorded a low of $3.885 before closing at $3.920 Friday, down 6 cents from Thursday’s finish and 42.3 cents below the previous week’s close.

ExxonMobil is drawing closer to completing its $41 billion acquisition of U.S. independent XTO Energy Inc. The company said in a regulatory filing that the deal cleared regulatory hurdles in the United States. and The Netherlands. “The applicable waiting period provided under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended…expired on March 15, 2010 without the issuance of a second request,” ExxonMobil said. “The Dutch Competition Authority provided a regulatory clearance of the pending merger on March 9, 2010. Closing of the transaction remains subject to approval by the shareholders of XTO Energy and the satisfaction (or, to the extent permitted by applicable law, waiver) of the other conditions provided in the merger agreement among the parties.” The combination of the companies would add about 45 Tcfe to ExxonMobil’s resource base and lift its gas weighting to 45% (see NGI, Dec. 21, 2009).

ExxonMobil is drawing closer to completing its $41 billion acquisition of U.S. independent XTO Energy Inc. The company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that the deal cleared regulatory hurdles in the U.S. and The Netherlands.

ExxonMobil is drawing closer to completing its $41 billion acquisition of U.S. independent XTO Energy Inc. The company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that the deal cleared regulatory hurdles in the U.S. and The Netherlands.

Wall Street has a closer eye on the nation’s energy utility sector and the kind of state regulation impacting it, and so far in the new year it doesn’t necessarily like what it sees, according to John Bohn, a member of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) who recently returned from a week-long series of conferences and meetings with financial analysts in New York City.

Wall Street has a closer eye on the nation’s energy utility sector and the kind of state regulation impacting it, and so far in the new year it doesn’t necessarily like what it sees, according to John Bohn, a member of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) who recently returned from a week-long series of conferences and meetings with financial analysts in New York City.

Arizona, which currently has no gas storage facilities, took one step closer to the development of such facilities Wednesday night when members of the state’s House approved a bill that would loosen groundwater protections.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday approved a Democratic amendment that would bring oil and natural gas leasing closer to the Florida coastline.

The Senate moved the $10 billion omnibus lands bill a step closer to passage Monday and put into play a strategy that, if successful, could get the legislation over some of the procedural hurdles that have stalled the measure in the House. The bill would take millions of acres of public lands in the West off the table for potential oil and natural gas development.