Focused

Kicking off the next phase of the Sable Island project, Exxon Mobil Corp. said last week that natural gas production has begun at the Alma field, the first Tier 2 production from the Sable project, located 125 miles offshore Nova Scotia.

Looking to continue its “returns-focused” strategy, ConocoPhillips said that it will set a number of goals for the next year, including a $1 billion increase to the company’s asset divestment target.

Looking to continue its “returns-focused” strategy, ConocoPhillips said Wednesday that it will set a number of goals for the next year, including a $1 billion increase to the company’s asset divestment target.

El Paso Corp. continues to play push-me pull-you as it works out a long-term plan to get debt levels in check without starving its remaining core businesses. CEO Doug Foshee stressed that the company should meet its divestiture target of $3.4 billion by the end of this year, but going forward, “we won’t be able to sell our way to prosperity. We have to grow our core businesses.”

Putting its stock where it business strategy is focused, Bellevue, WA-based Puget Energy Friday announced it was selling about $100 million of common stock to mutual funds managed by Franklin Advisers, based in San Mateo, CA, at a discount to the Oct. 30, 2003 price at $22/share. Net proceeds will go entirely to support Puget’s regulated combination utility, Puget Sound Energy (PSE).

Magnum Hunter Resources Inc., whose oil and gas activities have focused on traditional exploration in the heart of the U.S. oil patch and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, has established a new core area in the San Juan Basin, with plans to exploit an area of nearly 6 million acres through a joint coalbed methane (CBM) venture.

Magnum Hunter Resources Inc., whose oil and gas activities have focused on traditional exploration in the heart of the U.S. oil patch and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, has established a new core area in the San Juan Basin, with plans to exploit an area of nearly 6 million acres through a joint coalbed methane (CBM) venture.

Western Gas Resources, which is focused on production, gathering and processing in the northern Rockies and most significantly in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, reported a sharp 51% increase in quarterly net income to $20.9 million, or 56 cents/share, and a 24% increase in gas production to 149 MMcf/d. Net income for the first six months of the year rose more than 100% to $44.3 million, or $1.19/share.

With one eye on the tropical disturbance in the Caribbean and the other focused on Thursday’s storage report, natural gas futures traders took a wait-and-see approach to the market Wednesday. The result was choppy, sideways-to-lower trading. The September futures contract failed to retest the $5.28 high achieved in the overnight Access trading session Wednesday, paving the way for light long liquidation. It closed at $5.179, down 3.8 cents for the session.