Green

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has given the green light for Calgary-based Suncor Energy Inc.’s friendly takeover of cross-town rival Petro-Canada. Suncor has a refining and gasoline retail business based in Colorado, and Petro-Canada has unconventional natural gas operations in the Lower 48 states. The C$19.6 billion (US$15.5 billion) merger, which would create Canada’s largest energy company, was announced in March (see Daily GPI, March 24). The transaction still requires approval by the Competition Bureau in Canada, and both companies have overlapping retail gasoline operations in Ontario.

Prices sank as low as about 35 cents into Northwest-South of Green River and to less than a dollar at a few other Rockies points as weakness returned to a majority of the cash market Monday. Seasonal springtime weather, with its lack of either heating load or cooling load to any significant degree, was chiefly responsible. The previous Friday’s drop of 2 cents by May futures was an additional bearish element.

Global futures exchange CME Group has gotten the green light from two regulators to begin clearing over-the-counter (OTC) credit default swap (CDS) transactions through CMDX, a joint venture company with Chicago-based Citadel Investment Group. Regulatory reviews by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are complete, and the last hurdle — approval by by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — is expected soon.

Colorado Interstate Gas Co. (CIG) Monday got the green light from FERC to place in service an expansion of its system to serve growing natural gas demand along the Colorado Front Range, particularly in the Denver metropolitan area.

Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is expected to publish a final rule Friday that will give it the green light to charge oil and natural gas pipelines, power transmission companies and fiber optics firms higher rental fees for linear rights-of-way (ROW) to better reflect the changes in land values over the past two decades.

FERC Wednesday gave Gulfstream Natural Gas System LLC the green light to place into service a pipeline expansion to supply natural gas to a power plant in west-central Florida that is scheduled to be converted to gas.

FERC Friday gave Bobcat Gas Storage the green light to place into service pipeline facilities that will connect its salt dome natural gas storage project in St. Landry Parish, LA, to the interstate pipeline grid (see Daily GPI, Oct. 10).

Utilities and state government are partnering under the California “Green Building Initiative” unveiled earlier in the year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and they marked their first successful collaboration by going to jail Thursday. They weren’t locked up, but they did spend some time in Wasco State Prison to present a $6.5 million incentive check for energy efficiency measures adopted by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Utilities and state government are partnering under the California “Green Building Initiative” unveiled earlier in the year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and they marked their first successful collaboration by going to jail Thursday. They weren’t locked up, but they did spend some time in Wasco State Prison to present a $6.5 million incentive check for energy efficiency measures adopted by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.