Each

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday issued certificates for two natural gas storage projects in the Gulf Coast region, each with 20.8 Bcf of total capacity. Approved were the storage projects of Tarpon Whitetail Gas Storage LLC, a subsidiary of Tarpon Gas Storage LLP; and Black Bayou Storage LLC.

In expanding its U.S. Power and Gas Trading business in the last year, JPMorgan announced last week it has added three new employees from Deutsche Bank, two from UBS and one each from Sempra and Goldman Sachs. The additions are part of a 50-person expansion of its global commodities business, including oil and distillates trading, carbon and environmental products, energy sales and marketing and commodity-linked structural products. The new employees in the gas and power segment and their positions at JPMorgan are:

Legislation to prevent natural gas drilling on the Roan Plateau would destroy “years of effort” by locals who support energy exploration, Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) said last month.

Williams made news both on- and offshore North America last week with two major expansions that would build its natural gas gathering and midstream businesses in both the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and in the burgeoning Canadian oil sands.

Following a holiday-shortened trading week in which several points ran contrary to overall market direction each day, all points were on the same price movement page Monday — moving higher, that is. Forecasts of cold weather featuring snow showers Tuesday in parts of the West and Midwest and in much of the Northeast were the primary driver of cash firmness, although a small futures gain Friday and the return of industrial load from its typical weekend absence also contributed a bit of support.

With its natural gas and power businesses unbound from each other through a tax-free spin-off, Duke Energy management last week predicted 5-7% per share compound annual growth for the gas business and 4-6% for the power business, the new Duke Energy, over the next several years. Driving the growth will be an abundance of new-build and expansion opportunities in both gas and power.

The expectation for continued strong oil and natural gas prices, as expressed in each commodity’s Nymex strip, has had both positive and negative impacts on the exploration and production sector. It has allowed the industry to substantially pay-down debt, but also has driven up costs for people, equipment and, in particular, assets.

The expectation for continued strong oil and natural gas prices, as expressed in each commodity’s Nymex strip, has had both positive and negative impacts on the exploration and production sector. It has allowed the industry to substantially pay-down of debt, but also has driven up costs for people, equipment and, in particular, assets.

Australian-based producer Woodside Exploration Ltd. formally launched an unsolicited bid for Energy Partners Ltd. (EPL) on Thursday, offering $880 million for the New Orleans-based producer. Woodside offered $23 for each outstanding share of EPL, contingent on EPL not completing its pending $1.4 billion merger with Stone Energy Corp. (see Daily GPI, Aug. 29).