Financial

Executives at drilling and pressure pumping contractor Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. have experienced a seasonal slowdown in the northeastern U.S. energy patch, they told financial analysts during an earnings conference call.

San Diego-based energy holding company Sempra Energy said all of its business units met or exceeded their financial objectives this year. As a result, Sempra said it expects to meet or exceed the higher end of its previously announced 2011 earnings-per-share guidance of $4-4.30. The guidance excluded a second quarter $1.14/share gain from South American utility acquisitions. On a generally accepted accounting principles basis Sempra’s previously announced guidance was $5.14-5.44/share, which the company also expects to meet or exceed. Sempra’s 4Q2011 and full-year 2011 results are scheduled to be announced Feb. 28.

Crestwood Midstream Partners LP is a bit of an anomaly in the midstream sector as it is focused exclusively on shale plays, CEO Robert Phillips told financial analysts last week. It’s the only partnership that does so, save for the much larger Chesapeake Midstream Partners, he said.

Crestwood Midstream Partners LP is a bit of an anomaly in the midstream sector as it is focused exclusively on shale plays, CEO Robert Phillips told financial analysts Tuesday. It’s the only partnership that does so, save for the much larger Chesapeake Midstream Partners, he said.

The House Financial Services Committee last Wednesday voted out three bills that clarify and polish up parts of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, but make no substantive changes.

The House Financial Services Committee Wednesday voted out three bills that clarify and polish up parts of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, but make no substantive changes.

How many U.S. government agencies does it take to frack a well?

With a municipalization vote scheduled for Tuesday in Boulder, CO, and the state’s economy lagging, Xcel Energy CEO Ben Fowke told financial analysts on a third quarter conference call Thursday that Colorado’s largest utility operator is not concerned about a wider push for public power, although he identified Colorado as one of two states that worry him in terms of the current pace of economic recovery.

After severe setbacks in the 2008-2009 financial and industrial contraction, North American natural gas trade has settled into a new pattern of stable-to-growing volumes with northbound flows from the United States into Canada on the rise, the U.S. Department of Energy said.