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Aubrey McClendon’s announced retirement from Chesapeake Energy Corp., the company he helped to found and then grow into an unconventional natural gas behemoth, may end one point of controversy for the debt-ridden operator, but it won’t solve many of the financial problems ahead, pundits said last week.

Aubrey K. McClendon, co-founder, CEO and president of Chesapeake Energy “has agreed to retire from the company on April 1, 2013,” according to a press release issued by the company late Tuesday. It said McClendon would continue to serve as CEO until a successor is appointed.

February is likely to be colder than normal in the Northeast and much of the rest of the country, but warmer-than-normal temperatures are expected to dominate in March and April, according to forecasters at Andover, MA-based Weather Services International (WSI).

February is likely to be colder than normal in the Northeast and much of the rest of the country, but warmer-than-normal temperatures are expected to dominate in March and April, according to forecasters at Andover, MA-based Weather Services International (WSI).

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a $182 million expansion to meet growing natural gas demand in New York City and the Rockaways. The Rockaway Delivery Lateral Project would provide 647,000 Dth/d of gas delivery capacity to National Grid’s distribution system in Brooklyn and Queens, NY; targeted in service date in late 2014. The project is targeted for service in the second half of 2014. The Transco and National Grid facilities would interconnect with National Grid’s proposed 26-inch diameter lateral. The 3.2-mile, 26-inch diameter Rockaway Delivery Lateral would consist of 2.9 miles of offshore pipeline and 0.3 miles of onshore pipeline. The small pipeline would pass under Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways portion of Queens and under Jamaica Bay to a new meter and regulator station on the decommissioned airfield Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Jacob Riis Park and the airfield are part of the Gateway National Recreation Center. President Obama signed a bill allowing for Transco’s expansion (see NGI, Dec. 3, 2012).

Goldman Sachs analysts recently published their list of the top 40 undervalued stocks and 40% of them were energy-related. Chesapeake Energy Corp. was the only energy stock listed of 25 others “that people expect to fail.”

Cash prices on average fell 14 cents Tuesday for Wednesday delivery with the Northeast leading the charge lower. Losses were widespread and occurred at all trading points. The market is being forced to take on differing weather forecasts with some anticipating a widespread cold carrying all the way to the East Coast, while others are more mild. At the close, February was 4.8 cents lower at $3.218 and March had lost 4.7 cents to $3.234. February crude oil shed 4 cents to $93.15/bbl.

Encana Corp. and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling solutions provider Ferus LNG Inc. plan to build a 190,000 liter per day LNG production facility near Grande Prairie, Alberta (AB). The facility is to be near high levels of energy industry activity in northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia and is expected to be operational by the end of 2013. It would be among the first in Canada designed to produce high-quality LNG fuel specifically for high-horsepower (HHP) engines used in drilling rigs, pressure pumping services and heavy-duty highway and off-road trucks, the partners said. Other HHP applications for the LNG supply include rail, mining, and remote power generation. To support the entire LNG supply chain, Encana and Ferus LNG have also designed and are in the process of building specialized mobile storage and dispensing equipment. Ferus and Encana said they have committed to using LNG for their own fueling needs. In 2011 alone, Encana saved $12 million in fuel costs by using natural gas instead of diesel in drilling rigs and company trucks and is on track to exceed this figure in 2012, the company said (see NGI, March 26). Earlier this year Ferus said it was putting into service the first LNG-powered heavy duty truck in Alberta (see NGI, April 30).

Chevron Corp. subsidiary Chevron Canada Ltd. will acquire a 50% operating interest in the Kitimat, British Columbia (BC), liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project and proposed Pacific Trail Pipeline (PTP), and a 50% interest in 644,000 acres of petroleum and natural gas rights in the Horn River and Liard Basins in BC, and be a partner in the project and acreage with Apache Corp., the companies said last month.