Gives

Chesapeake Energy Corp. and BP America intend to form a joint venture that gives BP a 25% interest in Chesapeake’s Fayetteville Shale assets in Arkansas for $1.9 billion, the companies said Tuesday. This marks the third transaction in less than two months involving the sale of Chesapeake’s shale assets, two of which have been with BP.

The market was almost evenly divided between mostly small gains and losses Tuesday but leaning slightly to the downside — even more so if one gives extra weight to the huge declines in the Rockies that took quotes as low as 40 cents and left a couple of points averaging less than a dollar. Much of the U.S. is in a transition period from unusual recent heat to temperatures more befitting the approach of mid-October.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said last week the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) clearly gives it “exclusive jurisdiction” over the natural gas futures market, and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) did nothing to alter that. At the same time, however, it asked a federal court in New York to deny Amaranth Advisors LLC’s request to stay FERC’s enforcement action against the fallen hedge fund for alleged manipulation of gas markets.

Royal Dutch Shell has signed a 25-year service agreement with Qatari officials that gives the oil major access to all of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a new project set to supply eastern U.S. markets by the end of the decade.

NGI, in its March 9 issue, reported that a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rule gives regulated companies 20 days to furnish the agency with a copy of any damage incident report that is required to be filed with the Department of Transportation. FERC allows 30 days for the report to be submitted (see NGI, March 12).

Daily GPI, in its March 9 issue, reported that a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rule gives regulated companies 20 days to furnish the agency with a copy of any damage incident report that is required to be filed with the Department of Transportation. FERC allows 30 days for the report to be submitted.

FERC last Thursday upheld its final rule that gives the agency more flexibility to issue market-based rates to storage developers — a move that it hopes will spur the development and construction of new underground natural gas storage facilities in the United States.

FERC on Thursday upheld its final rule that gives the agency more flexibility to issue market-based rates to storage developers — a move that it hopes will spur the development and construction of new underground natural gas storage facilities in the United States.

The Treasury Department is seeking to repeal a provision of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) that gives natural gas utilities faster depreciation — 15 years rather than 20 years — of their pipeline distribution facilities through January 2011. The agency also proposes to strip away tax incentives for oil and gas exploration.