Free

After free-falling lower in Friday morning trade, August natural gas futures prices barely acknowledged that an industry-expected 78 Bcf was injected into natural gas storage for the week ended June 29. Instead, the market continued to plummet to a low of $6.360 before settling at $6.444, down 17.4 cents on the day and 32.9 cents lower than the prior week’s close.

Traders halted the recent free fall in prices on Friday as August natural gas futures registered a low of $6.660 on the day before settling at $6.773, up 11.8 cents from Thursday but 48.7 cents lower than the previous Friday’s close. Whether the day’s trading marked a change in philosophy, or merely a rest stop on the way to even lower price levels, remains to be seen.

Apache Corp. intends to spend its free cash flow on exploration rather than what’s now used by many of its peers: share buybacks.

Apache Corp. intends to spend its free cash flow on exploration rather than what’s now used by many of its peers: share buybacks.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) is free to close its $15 billion privatization following a Thursday approval of the deal from the California Public Utilities Commission, the company said.

The Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a tri-national commission set up under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), has denied a request by Mexico to suspend an investigation into whether the country violated its own laws when it approved a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal next to a biodiversity hotspot on the U.S. border.

The Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a tri-national commission set up under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), last week denied a request by Mexico to suspend an investigation into whether the country violated its own laws when it approved a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal next to a biodiversity hotspot on the U.S. border.

In an indication of the current lovefest between California’s Democratic-controlled state legislature and its Republican governor, free-market advocate Rachelle Chong’s confirmation to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) was unanimously approved by the state Senate Thursday, less than 24 hours after the Rules Committee put aside reservations and sent the issue to the full Senate. Without the move, Chong would have been forced to step down from the powerful agency.

A veteran telecommunications attorney and former Federal Communications Commission member who is a strong free market advocate, Rachelle Chong, had her appointment to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) take a detour last Wednesday when a state Senate committee held up deciding whether she will be able to serve out the rest of her term. The head of the state legislative body and also committee chairman, Sen. Don Perata, publicly committed to taking a committee vote Wednesday.