Finishing

Legislators in the Pennsylvania General Assembly are scrambling to put the finishing touches on a tax code bill that could potentially offer billions in a tax break to companies in exchange for investing billions in an ethane cracker and associated manufacturing facilities.

After rebranding itself last year and finishing a transformation into “a significant resource play company,” SM Energy Co. plans to step up development in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas and the Bakken-Three Forks formation while it hopes to sell down Eagle Ford assets, secure a joint venture (JV) partner in the Haynesville Shale and exit the Marcellus Shale.

After rebranding itself last year and finishing a transformation into “a significant resource play company,” SM Energy Co. plans to step up development in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas and the Bakken-Three Forks formation while it hopes to sell down Eagle Ford assets, secure a joint venture (JV) partner in the Haynesville Shale and exit the Marcellus Shale.

Finishing off a week that saw front-month natural gas futures put in a new low for the downward move of the last five months, bearish traders kept their foot on the gas pedal on Friday as the January contract continued to put pressure on support levels.

Democratic negotiators on Capitol Hill are putting the finishing touches on a final energy bill that lawmakers could take up as early as this week, congressional aides said.

Democratic negotiators on Capitol Hill are putting the finishing touches on a final energy bill that lawmakers could take up as early as next week, congressional aides are reporting.

Even though the market was forced to digest a rather bullish 2007 Atlantic hurricane forecast on Tuesday, May natural gas traded to a low of $7.390 on the day before finishing up the regular session at $7.426, down 24.5 cents from Monday’s close.

Natural gas futures continued to explore the upside Wednesday as crude again posted new all-time highs. After trading as low as $7.870 and as high as $8.280, May natural gas ended up finishing the regular session at $8.192, up 18.4 cents on the day, bringing the three-day total gain to $1.057.

Finishing its wild ride as prompt month, February natural gas on Friday opened at $8.550 — significantly higher than Thursday’s close — and put in an $8.640 tick in the first minute of the session. However, that ended up being the high for the day as the prompt month bounced in the low-to-mid-$8 area for the rest of the session before expiring at $8.400, up 17.1 cents on the day but 88 cents lower than the previous week’s close.