Deals

Cash natural gas prices held steady on average Thursday with most traders electing to get deals done ahead of the morning inventory report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Cash prices fell 7 cents on average Thursday as traders ignored a powerful East Coast storm and concentrated on getting deals done before the release of government inventory data.

Calgary-based AltaGas Ltd. and Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. have formed a joint venture to pursue deals to export liquefied Canadian gas to Asian markets, including the development of natural gas liquefaction facilities.

NFR Energy LLC has closed two private deals worth a combined $736 million to acquire assets in the Anadarko Basin and Eagle Ford Shale. The company also announced that First Reserve Corp. has increased its interest in the parent company, NFR Holdings LLC, to 99.7% and NFR is to be renamed Sabine Oil & Gas LLC.

NFR Energy LLC has closed two private deals worth a combined $736 million to acquire assets in the Anadarko Basin and Eagle Ford Shale. The company also announced that First Reserve Corp. has increased its interest in the parent company, NFR Holdings LLC, to 99.7% and NFR is to be renamed Sabine Oil & Gas LLC.

Physical natural gas prices overall traded down an average of about a dime Thursday as most traders elected to get deals done prior to the release of Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage data.

In a pair of deals announced Thursday, Seneca Resources Corp., the exploration and production unit of National Fuel Gas Co., laid out plans to continue shifting its Marcellus Shale drilling rigs from diesel fuel to liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Gulf of Mexico (GOM) explorer Energy XXI Ltd. on Monday said it has two deals on the table with ExxonMobil Corp. to buy some shallow water properties in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and to jointly explore some adjacent targets.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is selling legacy properties in the Cana Woodford Shale, including the rights to 298 producing wells, “because it does not have the drilling budget to adequately develop the abundant additional opportunities in the area,” according to a sales listing. Ninety-eight percent of the leases are held by production.