Deal

Physical gas prices declined on average by 9 cents Thursday as Northeast traders had to deal with constraints and cold weather, but there were milder conditions in the East and Gulf Coast region. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that inventories increased 4 Bcf, but the market was expecting a modest draw, and futures prices took a double-digit beating. At the close January had fallen 15.3 cents to $3.648 and February was down 14.8 cents to $3.668. January crude oil added $1.58 to $88.07/bbl.

Physical gas prices overall on average jumped a whopping 37 cents Monday as traders scrambled to deal with multiple challenges ranging from high power prices, to covering short positions, to below normal temperatures forecast for major eastern and Midwest energy markets. The Northeast was especially strong, with a couple of New England points registering gains north of $4.00. Futures traders were looking at more distant weather events and sold early and sold often. At the close December had fallen 17.1 cents to $3.730 and January was down 16.6 cents to $3.868. January crude oil fell 54 cents to $87.74/bbl.

North Dakota continues to set new records for oil and natural gas production, and it has begun working on innovative solutions to deal with the abundance of flared gas.

Chimera Energy Corp., which had seen its stock price increase substantially this summer based on its claims of a deal with Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company, has since lost both its CEO and almost all of its stock value in the wake of concerns about the accuracy of many of the company’s statements.

Shell Canada Products has signed a five-year deal with Canada’s Bison Transport to provide liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 15 Bison tractors in Alberta. The agreement is a first step in Shell’s effort to establish a natural gas transportation fueling network in the province.

Halcon Resources Corp. on Monday said it is acquiring a shelf of oil-weighted producing and undeveloped properties in the Williston Basin in a cash-and-equity transaction with Petro-Hunt LLC worth $1.45 billion.

Enbridge Inc. and Encana Corp. have struck a midstream services deal to develop gas gathering and compression facilities in the Peace River Arch (PRA) region in northwestern Alberta.

ExxonMobil Corp. has offered US$3.14 billion in a cash and debt deal to buy Celtic Exploration Ltd., a Calgary producer with a rich array of unconventional acreage spread across the Montney and Duvernay shales, as well as leaseholds in other formations in Alberta (AB) and British Columbia (BC). The offer that was announced on Wednesday has a cash value of about $2.6 billion, excluding debt.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law four pipeline safety bills that in part deal with the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion. He also signed a half-dozen other energy-related bills in the final days of September.