Division

Steven Schoenfeld, a long-time futures trader, has been named director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO), succeeding Richard Shilts. Shilts, who has been DMO director since February 2006 and at the CFTC since 1974, will now become deputy director. Schoenfeld currently is president of consulting firm Global Index Strategies. Prior to Global Index, Schoenfeld was chief investment officer of Global Quantitative Management at Northern Trust; managing director at Barclays Global Investors; investment officer at the International Finance Corp./World Bank; and a futures trader at the Singapore Exchange. He has worked with futures and stock exchanges worldwide, including Tokyo, Paris, London, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Bangkok and Budapest. He will be moving to Washington, DC, from New York. The DMO handles the designation of new markets, the review of new futures and option products, the monitoring for and detection of market manipulation, and the protection of customers from market abuses.

Chevron Global Gas, a division of Chevron USA Inc., has completed a supply agreement with Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Co. Ltd. No. 3, an affiliate of RasGas Co. Limited, for delivery of Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Cameron Parish, LA, Chevron said Tuesday.

Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays PLC, made it official Friday, announcing it was taking over the UBS book for its base metals, oil and U.S. natural gas and power trading, adding it to its Lehman Brothers Inc. holdings, which it picked up last September. The two acquisitions would put Barclays in the top 10 North American natural gas marketers in NGI’s ranking.

Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays PLC, made it official Friday, announcing it was taking over the UBS book for its base metals, oil and U.S. natural gas and power trading, adding it to its Lehman Brothers Inc. holdings, which it picked up last September. The two acquisitions could put Barclays in the top 10 North American natural gas marketers in NGI’s ranking.

The Colorado Greater Sage Grouse Conservation Plan was signed last week at the state’s Division of Wildlife (DOW) headquarters in Denver. The plan is designed to guide and facilitate the conservation of greater sage grouse and their habitats.

The Colorado Greater Sage Grouse Conservation Plan was signed this week at the state’s Division of Wildlife (DOW) headquarters in Denver. The plan is designed to guide and facilitate the conservation of greater sage grouse and their habitats.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) is partnering with Questar Corp. to perform research on greater sage grouse habitat in northwest Colorado and south-central Wyoming. The research is intended to identify ways to minimize energy development impacts on grouse habitat, which has been in decline for years. The bird, whose habitat stretches across the western states, is being considered for listing as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, which also would impact energy development across the West (see Daily GPI, Dec. 6, 2007). The partnership will build on research conducted since 2005 by DOW and the University of Idaho. Salt Lake City-based Questar, which focuses its gas exploration efforts in the Rocky Mountains, will fund the partnership for an undisclosed amount.

The marine fisheries division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has raised serious questions about the adequacy of the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) being developed by FERC on NorthernStar Natural Gas’s proposed Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal.

Fortis Energy Marketing and Trading (FEMT), a division of the European financial firm Fortis Merchant and Private Banking, said Jim Fallon, who had been head of Cinergy Marketing and Trading (CMT) when it was bought by Fortis a year ago, will step down at the end of this year from his leadership post at FEMT. The Fortis organization’s management structure is being changed, the company said, and a new position of U.S. head of energy and commodities is being created. Didier Giblet, current global head of energy and commodities at Fortis, will take over at FEMT in Houston until the new position is filled. Waldo Abbot, CEO of Fortis North America said, “Jim was instrumental to the integration of the Cinergy Marketing & Trading business over the past year, and we are all grateful to him for his vision and contributions.” Fortis bought the Cinergy marketing organization from Duke Energy, which had purchased Cinergy and kept the utilities, with a plan to marry its financial trading operations and credit with CMT’s physical trading.