Forced

The Alberta government has enacted an amendment to its natural gas royalty regulation in an effort to compensate gas producers who were forced to shut in production from the Wabiskaw-McMurray formation in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area of northeastern Alberta because of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (AEUB) bitumen conservation decisions.

A West Virginia aluminum producer last week said it may be forced to close its doors and lay off workers if FERC does not grant it relief from a seams elimination charge adjustment (SECA).

With Hurricane Ivan now seriously threatening Gulf of Mexico production, natural gas futures jumped off the charts Monday morning in preparation for the possibility of prolonged natural gas and oil rig shut-ins.

When forced to make a decision between running lower on fairly bearish natural gas storage news or trading higher on influence from the crude oil futures market, July natural gas futures chose the latter, notching a high on the day of $6.22 before settling at $6.176, up 9.4 cents.

Leaving analysts and the press equally befuddled, Canadian Superior said the abandonment of the El Paso Mariner I-85 well in the Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia, following 3-1/2 months of drilling, was actually not out of the ordinary when dealing with a new prospect.

Production shortfalls in South Texas assets and high natural gas prices forced El Paso Corp. to slash its proved oil and gas reserves by 41% following an independent review, which will lead to a fourth quarter pre-tax ceiling test charge of at least $1 billion, the company said Tuesday.

In response to investors’ questions regarding when natural gas drilling activity would pick up, Raymond James & Associates analyst J. Marshall Adkins said it already has, and will continue through the remainder of 2003 and into 2004.

In response to investors’ questions regarding when natural gas drilling activity would pick up, Raymond James & Associates analyst J. Marshall Adkins said it already has, and will continue through the remainder of 2003 and into 2004.

Allegheny Energy Inc. last week said that its common equity ratio has dipped below the level required under certain key Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) authorizations, forcing the power company to obtain further SEC authorizations to engage in financing and other activities that are critical to its near-term financial viability.