Financial

A Pennsylvania township has filed lawsuit against its county board of elections, arguing that a referendum put forth by an environmental group that would ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the township violates several state laws and could expose the municipality to legal action by the industry and others.

Shale drilling beyond North America may be moving at a snail’s pace but the opportunities for oilfield service operators overseas are “fantastic and phenomenal,” according to Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar.

Three-and-a-half years after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, Calpine Corp. made its final financial distribution spelled out in its court-approved plan for emerging from bankruptcy protection in late January 2008. Calpine released approximately 19.8 million shares of its common stock from reserves that previously had been set aside to satisfy bankruptcy claims that were still unresolved when the independent (mostly natural gas-fired) power plant operator/developer left Chapter 11 protection. Calpine senior officials hailed the milestone as putting the company’s debt-laden past to bed. The reserve shares were already counted among the 486 million weighted average shares outstanding listed by the company as of June 30, so there is no impact on earnings or cash flow from the final release of shares. Noting all the “technical matters” from the past are behind Calpine, CFO Zamir Rauf said the company now has “fully resolved all claims associated with our bankruptcy.”

Williams hasn’t given up on a plan to steal Southern Union Co. from Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE) and late Tuesday offered to buy the company for $44/share in cash — the same amount on paper that it offered in July.

A cooperative and coordinated effort by state and federal agencies and the industry to develop and promulgate “best practices” is key to winning the public’s trust and to successful development of the nation’s shale gas resources, according to a report issued Thursday by a federal advisory panel.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon told financial analysts on Friday the company’s Utica Shale leasehold in Ohio “is likely most analogous, but economically superior to, the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.”

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon told financial analysts on Friday the company’s Utica Shale leasehold in Ohio “is likely most analogous, but economically superior to, the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.”

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon told financial analysts on Friday the company’s Utica Shale leasehold in Ohio “is likely most analogous, but economically superior to, the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.”

No matter how powerful the news media might seem, it can’t reverse the flow of gas on a major interstate transmission pipeline. Responding to a financial analyst’s question last week, Kinder Morgan Inc. CEO Rich Kinder said recent rumors of a flow reversal on Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) were greatly exaggerated.