Crude

The Minerals Management Services’ (MMS) oversight of natural gas production volumes under its royalty in kind (RIK) program is less rigorous than its oversight of crude oil production volumes, and the agency may tend to overstate the benefits of the RIK program to Congress each year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report issued Wednesday.

Even as the Henry Hub natural gas spot price skids to $6.27/Mcf and and crude oil futures trade at about $63/bbl — less than half of their summer peak — energy is expected to remain a priority issue when the 111th Congress convenes in January, Capitol Hill aides and legislative experts say.

The widely held belief of the last few years that natural gas would be transitioning to a crude oil-like global market in the near future appears to be overstated, if a new report from Goldman Sachs analysts holds up. Higher than expected U.S. production levels will likely prolong the “winter disconnect” between U.S. and international natural gas prices through, and possibly beyond 2009, according to Goldman Sachs analysts Samantha Dart and Jefferey Curry.

The widely held belief of the last few years that natural gas would be transitioning to a crude oil-like global market in the near future appears to be overstated, if a new report from Goldman Sachs analysts holds up. Higher than expected U.S. production levels will likely prolong the “winter disconnect” between U.S. and international natural gas prices through, and possibly beyond 2009, according to Goldman Sachs analysts Samantha Dart and Jefferey Curry.

Against a backdrop of falling crude oil and natural gas prices, the House last Thursday passed by an overwhelming margin legislation that seeks to curb “excessive” speculation in the energy markets.

Against a backdrop of falling crude oil and natural gas prices, the House Thursday passed by an overwhelming margin legislation that seeks to curb “excessive” speculation in the energy markets.

TEPPCO Partners LP subsidiary TEPPCO Crude Oil LLC is not one of 11 SemGroup LP creditors that alleged that unauthorized energy trading may have caused SemGroup’s $3.2 billion loss — contrary to what was reported in Daily GPI articles on July 24 and July 29 titled “SemGroup Implosion Brings More Questions than Answers” (see Daily GPI, July 24) and “Pioneer Natural Resources Latest to Be Bit by SemGroup Downfall” (see Daily GPI, July 29). NGI regrets the error. As reported previously, TEPPCO does not expect any future material impact from the SemGroup bankruptcy nor does it expect any future material credit exposure to SemGroup.

With the price of crude oil hovering around $135 a barrel, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Monday called on Congress to open a small part of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling, as well as lift the moratorium on exploration and development in much of the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

With crude oil prices exceeding $130 a barrel and natural gas prices nearing $12.50/Mcf, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) now says the federal government could be out as much as $54 billion in revenues — far more than was previously estimated — as a result of the faulty 1998-1999 deepwater leases and the court challenge by Kerr-McGee Oil and Gas, now part of Anadarko Petroleum, if upheld on appeal.