Controls

Elected officials in a third town in Colorado, Erie, on Wednesday night adopted a six-month moratorium on oil/gas development on an emergency basis, making the halt effective immediately.

Supermajor ExxonMobil Corp., which controls a huge portfolio of unconventional oil, gas and liquids projects across North America, on Thursday disclosed that it has increased its leasehold in the Ohio portion of the promising Utica Shale.

Economic declines, renewable energy and efficiency growth and ultimately greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions controls all are pushing down natural gas demand in the near term in California and further pushing back the need for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, according to a California Energy Commission (CEC) gas staff analyst reporting last Monday to a joint meeting of the CEC and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Economic declines, renewable energy and efficiency growth and ultimately greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions controls all are pushing down natural gas demand in the near term in California and further pushing back the need for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, according to a California Energy Commission (CEC) gas staff analyst reporting Monday to a joint meeting of the CEC and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Nymex Holdings Inc., which controls the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), reported Tuesday that preliminary election results show that current Vice Chairman Richard Schaeffer will replace Mitchell Steinhause as chairman of the board. The inspector of elections, American Stock Transfer and Trust Company (AST), has provided preliminary, uncertified results of the voting for the election of directors at the company’s 2006 annual meeting Monday. AST said a list of final certified results for the reduced 15-person board will be provided by the company later this week. In addition to Schaeffer, other uncertified results include: Robert Halper to vice chairman; Neil Citrone to the futures commission merchant category; David Greenberg and Frank Siciliano to the at-large category; Melvyn Falis, Robert Steele and Dennis Suskind to the public director category; Thomas Gordon to the local category; A. George Gero to the trade category; and Harvey Gralla and Daniel Rappaport to the equity holder category. In addition, Nymex President and CEO James E. Newsome, and General Atlantic President William Ford were elected to the board of directors. In March, Nymex shareholders “overwhelmingly approved” a transaction in which General Atlantic LLC invested $160 million for a 10% equity stake in Nymex (see Daily GPI, March 14). Nymex reported that the results of the voting for the floor broker category were too close to call between Stephen Ardizzone and John McNamara. As a result, the company will await final certified results before announcing the winner in this category.

Denver-based St. Mary Land & Exploration Co., which controls approximately 16,400 acres (10,803 net) of leasehold in Uinta Basin of Utah, said it is completing its Ute Tribal KMV #1 in the its Duchsne Deep Prospect there. The independent is responsible for 100% of the well costs through the completion of the well and will own a 77.5% working interest thereafter. Testing of the lower Mesaverde Blackhawk and Castlegate intervals already has been completed, the company said. To date, two intervals in the lowermost Blackhawk interval between 15,300 feet and 15,900 feet have been tested, and two additional intervals were tested in the Castlegate interval between 14,400 feet and 15,250 feet. However, St. Mary noted that the zones tested have flowed natural gas and water at “sub-commercial rates.” The Blackhawk and Castlegate intervals were secondary targets in the test, “but the failure to establish commercial production is a disappointment.” Testing of the primary Mesaverde section between 11,700 feet and 14,380 feet is expected to take 60 to 90 days, and will involve multiple sand intervals and multiple fracture stimulations. The company also announced that COO Ron Boone will retire at the end of the year. He will be replaced by Doug York, who has been with St. Mary for seven years, most recently as manager of engineering and acquisitions.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been steadily moving away from light-handed regulation “to the other end of the spectrum with much heavier regulation. This is reflective of the public distrust of the energy market,” Carl Levander, vice president of NiSource’s Columbia pipelines, told attendees at the LDC Forum last week.

El Paso’s White Rock Station will be down for controls replacement April 9-27, with the #1 turbine remaining down through April 29. Bondad Station will be down for annual Department of Transportation inspections April 16. The work will cut San Juan Basin capacity by 270 MMcf/d April 9-27 and by 105 MMcf/d April 28-29. Bondad capacity will be reduced by 585 MMcf/d on April 16.

FERC at last week’s meeting dismissed a complaint filed by the National Association of Gas Consumers (NAGC) against “all sellers of natural gas in the United States of America in interstate commerce,” which asked FERC to set a benchmark price for natural gas of $2.74/MMBtu and allow any sales above that level to be subject to complaints and refunds as unjust and unreasonable.