Hammered

A severance tax on natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania, which is scheduled to be hammered out by state legislators later this year and implemented by Jan. 1, must provide a fair share of revenue to local governments and communities where drilling takes place, according to Gov. Ed Rendell.

A severance tax on natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania, which is scheduled to be hammered out by state legislators later this year and implemented by Jan. 1, must provide a fair share of revenue to local governments and communities where drilling takes place, Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last Tuesday hammered oil and gas trade associations for uttering “untruths” about the record for onshore and offshore leasing during the Obama administration’s first year. He said the associations were acting like an “arm of a political party” during an election year by “repeatedly” launching attacks against the department.

Undeterred by the potential threat of two powerful storm systems entering the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) over the weekend, natural gas futures traders on Friday hammered the December futures contract lower for much of the regular trading session. The prompt-month contract reached a low of $4.555 on the day before closing at $4.595, down 18.7 cents from Thursday’s close and 45 cents below the previous week’s finish.

North American Energy Credit and Clearing (NECC) has hammered out a deal with investment banker Credit Suisse, which will give the Swiss-based banker an equity position in the clearing hub and provide credit enhancement tools for NECC customers. The investment is being made by the Credit Suisse Next II Fund. Financial details were not disclosed. NECC, privately held and based in Chicago, offers its services through the IntercontinentalExchange trading platform and voice brokers. Credit and clearing services are offered for power products in Texas and California, and for natural gas traded at Henry Hub, PG&E Citygate, Panhandle Eastern, TCO Pool and Columbia Gulf Onshore. To date, NECC said it has entered into about 600 transactions valued at more than $100 million. Its customer base includes traders, utilities, banks, merchant power plants and gas suppliers.

North American Energy Credit and Clearing (NECC) has hammered out a deal with investment banker Credit Suisse, which will give the Swiss-based banker an equity position in the clearing hub and provide credit enhancement tools for NECC customers.

Newfield Exploration Co.’s Gulf of Mexico operations were hammered by hurricanes last fall, but at the end of the year, the Houston-based producer still managed to add 467 Bcfe to its proved reserves, upping the total 12% to 2 Tcfe, which was nearly two times 2005’s production, the company said Thursday. With no significant acquisitions completed last year, about 96% of the new reserves came through the drillbit.

FERC on Friday accepted a settlement hammered out between the Commission’s enforcement staff and Houston-based units of Duke Energy that resolves outstanding matters relating to the Western electricity crisis in 2000-2001. The $2.5 million that Duke has agreed to pay resolves pending issues stemming from a FERC staff investigation of the West’s energy problems.

FERC on Friday accepted a settlement hammered out between the Commission’s enforcement staff and Houston-based units of Duke Energy that resolves outstanding matters relating to the Western electricity crisis in 2000-2001. Among other things, the agreement terminates and resolves any issues before the Commission involving Duke’s “wash” trading of natural gas.