Dispute

The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to again reject Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s efforts to avoid paying investors more than $400 million in a four-year-old bond dispute.

Two Dominion subsidiaries began locking out 915 union-represented employees across six states Wednesday until negotiations on a new labor contract are completed.

ExxonMobil Corp.’s dispute with state attorneys general into the company’s climate change research is heating up, with a North Texas district court now holding a key in how the case moves forward. At the same time an industry group has charged the attorneys general coalition is politically directed at furthering the Obama administration’s climate change initiative.

In a move that releases SandRidge Energy Inc. from “significant” deficiency payments, the operator said it has settled a months-long dispute with a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) over a project to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from natural gas produced in the Pinon Field in the West Texas Overthrust (WTO).

FERC Monday ordered BP America Inc. and affiliates to show cause in a long-running case [IN13-15] involving the alleged gaming of the physical and financial markets at the Houston Ship Channel (HSC). The Commission proposed a near-$29 million penalty for transactions taking place from mid-September 2008 through Nov. 30, 2008.

Blaze Energy Corp. said it has settled a dispute with Environmental Energy Services Inc. (EESV), exchanging subsidiary EESV Fayetteville Inc. and associated outstanding notes for EESV’s 76% stake in the company, in a stock deal valued at $1.9 million. Under the first phase of a reorganization plan, the Boise, ID-based company — which is not affiliated with Calgary-based Blaze Energy Ltd. — also accepted the resignations of all but one of its employees and canceled the lease for its corporate offices.

In the simmering natural gas transportation fueling dispute in California, Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) sees its proposed tariff to provide utility compression services essential to compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling as adding to, not stifling, competition.

In the simmering natural gas transportation fueling dispute in California, Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) sees its proposed tariff for providing utility compressed natural gas (CNG) service as adding to, not stifling, competition in the Southern California market.

Coming on the heels of the departure of chemical giant Dow Chemical Co. from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) over a dispute involving liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and a decision by chemical firm Huntsman Corp. to join a coalition opposing gas exports, associations representing interstate natural gas pipelines and gas distribution lines expressed their unwavering support for U.S. sales of domestically produced gas to foreign countries.