Firms

Oilfied services firms Baker Hughes Inc. and BJ Services Co. said Tuesday they have reached a final agreement with the Department of Justice’s antitrust division on their proposed merger. The settlement requires the companies to divest assets before closing can occur, and must be approved by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (see Daily GPI, April 5).

Natural gas gathering firms are lining up with expansions and new facilities to meet demand from producers in the fast-growing Haynesville Shale of Louisiana and East Texas.

San Diego-based Sempra Energy is thought to be negotiating with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to buy back RBS’s 51% interest in the two firms’ joint venture trading unit, RBS Sempra Commodities. Two sources in the financial and energy trading space told NGI Thursday that this would make sense for the U.S. energy holding company if it can get the right price.

San Diego-based Sempra Energy is thought to be negotiating with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to buy back RBS’s 51% interest in the two firms’ joint venture trading unit, RBS Sempra Commodities. Two sources in the financial and energy trading space told NGI Thursday that this would make sense for the U.S. energy holding company if it can get the right price.

San Diego-based Sempra Energy is thought to be negotiating with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to buy back RBS’s 51% interest in the two firms’ joint venture trading unit, RBS Sempra Commodities. Two sources in the financial and energy trading space told NGI Thursday that this would make sense for the U.S. energy holding company if it can get the right price.

A federal court in Nevada last Monday preliminarily approved six proposed settlements in a class action lawsuit that accused energy firms of artificially inflating the price of natural gas in California and/or at the California border for more than a decade.

A federal court in Nevada Monday preliminarily approved six proposed settlements in a class action lawsuit that accused energy firms of artificially inflating the price of natural gas in California and/or at the California border for more than a decade.

A slim FERC majority Thursday voted out four stipulation and consent agreements, requiring marketers and other energy firms to pay more than $8 million in civil penalties and disgorge approximately $4 million in unjust profits for allegedly engaging in fraudulent open-season bidding for natural gas transportation capacity on the Cheyenne Plains Natural Gas Co. pipeline. The agency also, in sharply divided decisions, issued two orders to show cause resulting from an 18-month investigation into the allegedly illegal activity.

FERC Thursday approved four stipulation and consent agreements, requiring marketers and other energy firms to pay more than $8 million in civil penalties and disgorge approximately $4 million in unjust profits for allegedly engaging in fraudulent open-season bidding for natural gas transportation capacity on the Cheyenne Plains Natural Gas Co. pipeline. The agency also issued two orders to show cause resulting from an 18-month investigation into the illegal activity.