Commercial

Duke Energy, which said in June it would spin off its natural gas unit (see NGI, July 3), on Thursday put the gas company’s total capitalization at around $15.4 billion, including $6.17 billion in equity and $8.71 billion worth of debt. The separation is targeted for completion by Jan. 1, 2007.

South Jersey Gas (SJG), which serves more than 322,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers throughout New Jersey, on Thursday filed a petition with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to decrease its gas supply service rate effective Oct. 1. On average, residential bills would decrease 3.8% or about $6.48/month. “We know the unusually high cost of energy last winter presented a challenge to many of our customers,” said CEO Edward J. Graham. “Since last winter natural gas prices have gradually decreased, and our filing is based on projections that natural gas prices will be lower during the upcoming winter than they were last year. In addition, we’re aggressively seeking opportunities to reduce gas costs by restructuring our gas supply portfolio, while continuing to provide high quality gas service,” Graham added.

Shell Energy Services Co. LLC, which provides natural gas service to residential and commercial customers in Georgia and Ohio, said Friday it will sell nearly all of its assets to MXEnergy Inc. for an undisclosed price. The sale is expected to close in mid-2006.

The Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved an agreement requiring Southern Missouri Gas Co., which serves about 7,250 residential, commercial and industrial customers in the state, to have a gas supply plan in place before next winter with 55% of its supply locked in under fixed prices or hedged against market exposure.

Amerada Hess Corp. said it has purchased EnLine Energy Solutions’ natural gas marketing business. EnLine supplies gas to more than 200 commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. The transaction closed on Aug. 1.

Chevron Corp.’s sweetened bid for Unocal Corp. won’t affect Chevron’s credit ratings (Aa2 senior long-term, Prime-1 commercial paper), Moody’s Investors Service said Thursday. Chevron increased the cash portion of its offer for Unocal on Wednesday to $7.5 billion from $4.4 billion, valuing the total transaction at $17.8 billion, including a reduced amount of net debt to be assumed (see Daily GPI, July 21). Unocal’s board has recommended that its shareholders approve the proposed merger in a special meeting scheduled for Aug. 10.

After four years of field trials, Alberta’s fledgling coalbed methane industry is launching its first foray into commercial production of the biggest untapped natural gas deposit in the province. A C$400 million (US$320 million) pioneer drilling campaign is under way into the vast Mannville coal formation by Trident Exploration Corp., Nexen Inc. and Red Willow Production Co.

Shell doubled its costs estimates and pushed back the commercial service date for the Sakhalin II Phase 2 LNG project on Thursday. The company said in May that the project would cost $10 billion, but it now estimates its cost at $20 billion. LNG deliveries to the Costa Azul terminal in Baja California Norte, meanwhile, have been delayed until summer 2008 from November 2007.

Urging market participants to move beyond the traditional risk management tools when trading natural gas futures, Tom Saal, of Commercial Brokerage Corp., said Wednesday that it is important to develop new techniques for identifying price trends and market timing. One pretty good way of identifying a “buy” signal recently has been simply observing how short the funds, or noncommercial traders, are.