Funds

Gas market participants who have groused that hedge funds and speculators have toyed with their purse strings will have a new (and more real) bogey man in the years to come as liquefied natural gas (LNG) captures an increasing share of the North American gas market and the United States becomes more exposed to overseas pricing dynamics..

Despite the Bush administration’s request last week for $2.2 billion in additional funds for hurricane protection along Louisiana’s coast, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) said she would continue to block the nomination of Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne for secretary of Interior, as well as the nominations of other appointees who would influence the federal government’s energy and offshore production policies.

An industrial consumer group said Monday that it was “alarmed and dismayed” to learn that the Bush administration’s fiscal year 2006 budget plan calls for cuts in funding for programs overseeing minerals management leasing and permitting.

Exelon Corp. and ExxonMobil, two of the U.S. energy industry’s largest companies, announced major relief efforts Thursday, totaling more than $5.5 million, for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia.

Following the old “buy the rumor, sell the event” trading mantra, natural gas futures tumbled lower Monday as sellers punished the market just as the coldest weather of the season was arriving in the eastern United States.

With a new budget finally put in place over the weekend, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to turn his attention to energy issues this month, but his administration got off to a rocky start Monday with a news report quoting local government officials, environmental groups and consumer activists blasting the governor’s cabinet members for taking an 11-day trip with energy company executives to Australia and South Korea to visit liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.

Faced with inflated natural gas prices, Missouri’s top regulator has called on the state’s congressional delegation to seek additional federal low-income energy assistance dollars for Missouri families in need.

ExxonMobil Canada said Thursday it will provide $1 million for research and development for Atlantic Canada through the Petroleum Research Atlantic Canada (PRAC), which fosters building capacity in the region’s oil and natural gas industry. ExxonMobil is a partner and operator of the Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP) near Nova Scotia and also has interests in Hibernia and Terra Nova developments in Newfoundland.

El Paso Corp. has agreed to sell its 33.3% interest in a portion of its Australian pipeline holdings to Hastings Funds Management for $48 million. The assets include 1,180 miles of pipelines in South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. It is part of El Paso’s plan to reduce debt, net of cash, to $15 billion by year-end 2005. To date, the company has announced or closed $3 billion of the $3.3-3.9 billion in sales targeted under the plan.