Competitor

Devon Energy said last week it plans to acquire competitor Ocean Energy Inc. in a $5.3 billion stock-debt assumption transaction that will create the largest U.S.-based independent producer, with a major focus on North American natural gas.

On the heels of an announcement by its largest Detroit-based competitor, Chrysler Group LLC said this week it plans to become North America’s only auto manufacturer to offer a factory-built compressed natural gas (CNG) pickup truck. General Motors announced a similar CNG pickup rollout on Monday, albeit at a slower pace (see Daily GPI, March 6).

The dry natural gas market is in a “dire state,” according to Tulsa-based contract driller Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P). However, it and competitor Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. are making the most of the industry’s migration to liquids-rich and oil plays.

Superior Energy Services Inc. on Monday agreed to buy Complete Production Services Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal would create a formidable competitor in North America’s onshore oil and natural gas fields. The $2.7 billion purchase price is estimated to be a 62% premium to Complete’s closing share price on Friday.

Enterprise Products Partners LP and Entergy Transfer Partners LP for now have abandoned plans to construct a 584-mile crude oil pipeline from Cushing, OK, to Houston, Enterprise said Monday.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) reported Tuesday that it will acquire cross-town competitor Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) in an $8 billion transaction that will form a $25 billion global derivatives exchange. The combined company, to be named CME Group Inc., a CME/Chicago Board of Trade company, could transform global derivatives markets and put pressure on competing exchanges. The CME said corporate headquarters of the combined organization will remain in Chicago.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) reported last week that it will acquire cross-town competitor Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) in an $8 billion transaction that will form a $25 billion global derivatives exchange. The combined company, to be named CME Group Inc., a CME/Chicago Board of Trade company, could transform global derivatives markets and put pressure on competing exchanges. The CME said corporate headquarters of the combined organization will remain in Chicago.

It was not a good week for El Paso gas pipeline projects. Two major pipeline proposals, the 850 MMcf/d Continental Connector project, which originally was considered a competitor to the Rockies Express Pipeline, and the 1 Bcf/d Seafarer US Pipeline System Inc., which would have delivered regasified LNG to the Florida peninsula, were shelved indefinitely.

El Paso’s proposed 1 Bcf/d Continental Connector pipeline project, which originally was considered a competitor to the Rockies Express Pipeline, has been shelved. El Paso CFO Mark Leland told the Deutsche Bank High Yield Conference Wednesday that Continental Connector is “unlikely to move forward” because Barnett Shale producers opted to send their production to market on a competing pipeline system.