Dust

All but one of the proposals to address hydraulic fracturing (fracking), including all of those seeking moratoriums on the well stimulation practice, have bitten the dust in the California legislature. The lone bill standing (SB 4) is still awaiting committee referral in the lower house Assembly (see Shale Daily, June 3).

Chesapeake Energy Corp. and CEO Aubrey K. McClendon have been notified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the Fort Worth, TX, regional office has begun an informal inquiry and “requested that the company and Mr. McClendon retain certain documents,” the company said after the stock market closed on Thursday.

Cash prices bounded higher Monday and left futures in the dust as traders cited attractive storage differentials and were ambivalent about the prospects for storage gas flooding the market. At the close of futures trading April had advanced 2.5 cents to $2.351 and May had gained 3 cents to $2.466. April crude oil rose $1.95 to $107.06/bbl.

Global energy CEOs, who joined their brethren at the 31st annual IHS CERAWeek 2012 in Houston last week, urged their colleagues to dust up their images and become more proactive in exceeding regulatory safety standards.

With one transaction, Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP (CHKM) has become the “biggest gathering system in the Marcellus Shale,” CEO J. Mike Stice said Thursday.

A week after news of SemGroup LP’s implosion due to $3.2 billion in crude oil trading losses, the dust is still settling, revealing more creditors with direct exposure to the troubled company (see NGI, July 28). Last Monday Pioneer Natural Resources Co. announced that it has approximately $30 million of unpaid pre-bankruptcy claims for condensate sold to certain subsidiaries of SemGroup.

A week after news of SemGroup LP’s implosion due to $3.2 billion in crude oil trading losses, the dust is still settling, revealing more creditors with direct exposure to the troubled company (see Daily GPI, July 24). On Monday Pioneer Natural Resources Co. announced that it has approximately $30 million of unpaid pre-bankruptcy claims for condensate sold to certain subsidiaries of SemGroup.

With the dust now settling and the facts coming into clearer focus following the Bank of Montreal’s (BMO) announcement late last month of significant losses on natural gas trades, the fourth largest Canadian bank warned investors Thursday that its initial report of losses from “out-of-the-money options” of between C$350 million and C$450 million (US$313.70 million to US$403.33 million) has been increased to C$680 million (US$623.80 million).

With the dust now settling and the facts coming into clearer focus following the Bank of Montreal’s (BMO) announcement late last month of significant losses on natural gas trades, the fourth largest Canadian bank warned investors Thursday that its initial report of losses from “out-of-the-money options” of between C$350 million and C$450 million (US$313.70 million to US$403.33 million) has been increased to C$680 million (US$623.80 million).