Entry

Barring appeals to the courts, the last regulatory hurdle has been removed from obstructing an approval ruling on Canada’s entry in the Arctic pipeline race, the C$16.2 billion Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP).

Barring appeals to the courts, the last regulatory hurdle has been removed from obstructing an approval ruling on Canada’s entry in the Arctic pipeline race, the C$16.2 billion Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP).

Calling the deal “a strategic entry point into one of the largest emerging natural gas plays in North America at an attractive price,” Williams on Monday closed a joint venture agreement with Atlas Pipeline Partners LP that provides the company access to the Marcellus Shale.

Independent producers have faced downturns before, but companies that are heavily leveraged — such as those that borrowed to gain entry into the cash-intensive natural gas shales and tight sands — face liquidity problems and “survival risks” without the full support of their lenders, Moody’s Investors Service reported last week.

Independent producers have faced downturns before, but companies that are heavily leveraged — such as those that borrowed to gain entry into the cash-intensive natural gas shales and tight sands — face liquidity problems and “survival risks” without the full support of their lenders, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report Monday.

Global exchange IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) and Natural Gas Exchange Inc. (NGX) will provide deal entry capability to energy brokers for physically cleared over the counter (OTC) natural gas contracts, they said late last week. The companies also reported that three hubs will be added for physical clearing on Aug. 5.

Global exchange IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) and Natural Gas Exchange Inc. (NGX) will provide deal entry capability to energy brokers for physically cleared over the counter (OTC) natural gas contracts, they said Thursday. The companies also reported that three hubs will be added for physical clearing on Aug. 5.

Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. gained entry into Alaska last week with the purchase of Forest Oil Corp.’s Alaskan subsidiary for an estimated $448 million and 5.5 million Pacific Energy shares.

Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP), which up to now has concentrated its exploration efforts in California and along the Gulf Coast, last week gained entry into the natural gas-rich Piceance Basin of Colorado in an agreement estimated to be worth $946 million. The transaction, with privately held Laramie Energy LLC, is 97% weighted to gas, and it gives PXP 55,000 net acres, more than 200 producing wells and more than 3,000 additional potential drilling locations.