Explore

Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. together will explore more than one million gross acres in the Deep Haley area of the Delaware Basin in West Texas, the companies said Thursday.

After reaching a high of $8.010 in trading last week, May natural gas futures were pushed lower Monday to explore the other end of the spectrum. The prompt month put in a low of $7.500 on the day before settling at $7.530, down 27.1 cents from Friday’s close.

With a run of winter-like temperatures bearing down on the Midwest and East, natural gas futures traders on Tuesday continued to explore the upside, despite continued weakness in crude futures. February natural gas notched a high of $6.650 before closing at $6.631, up 25.3 cents on the day. February crude put in a low of $54.25/bbl before settling at $55.64/bbl, down 45 cents.

In its first action as prompt month, February natural gas futures bounced off a $6.090 low in Wednesday overnight Globex trading and continued to explore the upside in Thursday’s open outcry trading session. The contract reached a high of $6.365 on light trade before settling at $6.248, up 10.6 cents on the day.

In what may be the final lease sale to explore for oil and natural gas off Louisiana’s coast — at least until a complete environmental review of the state’s coastal region has been completed — the Minerals Management Service (MMS) last Monday awarded 371 leases to successful high bidders in the Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Lease Sale 200. Total bids were valued at more than $331.95 million.

In what may be the final lease sale to explore for oil and natural gas off Louisiana’s coast — at least until a complete environmental review of the state’s coastal region has been completed — the Minerals Management Service (MMS) on Monday awarded 371 leases to successful high bidders in the Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Lease Sale 200. Total bids were valued at more than $331.95 million.

A House Government Reform subcommittee will hold another hearing Thursday to explore why some of the largest producers have managed to avoid paying royalties on production from deepwater oil and natural gas leases that were issued by the federal government in 1998 and 1999.

Following the 79.2-cent combined drop from Monday and Tuesday, August natural gas futures on Wednesday decided to explore the upside for a change. After reaching a high of $5.930 in afternoon trading, prompt-month natural gas settled at $5.862, up 30.7 cents on the day.

Sierra Pacific Resources said last Monday it plans to explore opportunities to sell its 50% interest in the Tuscarora Gas Transmission pipeline in order to concentrate more fully on its utility businesses in Nevada.