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Bill Richardson was sworn in as the new energy secretary onTuesday, one day after Senate Energy Committee Chairman FrankMurkowski (R-AK) cleared him of allegations that he may have misledCongress when testifying during his confirmation hearing last monthabout a job offer he made to former White House intern Monica S.Lewinsky.

Barrett Resources Corp., a Denver-based independent producer,reported that a major well blowout that erupted early Thursday mayhave been caused by “downhole casing failure due to extendedexposure to high pressure.”

Customer-owners of three Michigan power co-ops – Great LakesEnergy Cooperative, Top O’Michigan Electric Co., and WesternMichigan Electric Cooperative – have approved a three-way merger totake effect next Jan. 1, creating the third largest Michigan-basedutility and the eight largest customer-owned power company in thenation.

Mondays have been bear-traders’ favorite day of the week atNymex with the last five producing losses to start the week. Themarket looked poised to continue that trend yesterday, but strongerprices mixed with concerns the market is nearing the bottombolstered the September contract 2.5 cents for the day. That leftthe prompt month at $1.869.

The August Nymex contract may have taken a significant steptoward posting further losses on Friday, but the jury on that isstill out. After August fell below major support at $2.32 Friday,enough buyers stepped in to prevent the spot month from moving anylower than $2.30. That enabled August to settle the day down 4.0cents to $2.309, but more selling could be in store when tradingresumes today. “I think a lot of traders took off early Fridayafternoon, or were simply not interested in putting in fresh openpositions before the weekend,” an analyst commented.

Koch Industries and the Royal Bank of Canada have formed astrategic alliance to jointly market energy-related trading andderivatives products to clients in North America andinternationally. The alliance is designed to provide the RoyalBank, which is one of the world’s top foreign exchange banks, with $30 billion/day in transactions, direct access to energy industryinformation and a broader array of energy derivative products, suchas weather derivatives. The deal gives Koch a connection to aworldwide collection of investment clientele. Royal Bank and itssubsidiaries serve 10 million clients through more than 1,500branches and offices located in 36 countries.

The futures screen may have been active Thursday but it waspretty quiet in the incremental cash market, a Houston trader said.Most points were flat to a bit softer, with the biggest drops ofabout a nickel or more occurring in the markets that had alreadybeen weak in the previous couple of days: the Rockies andCalifornia. Northeast citygates in Transco’s Zone 6 managed to ekeout small gains.

Existing shippers on Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line haveshredded the pipeline company’s $529 million MarketLink expansionproject, saying it should be rejected by the Commission, or Transcoshould be put at risk for the cost. The project would add 154 milesof pipeline looping and 62,400 hp of compression along Transco’sLeidy Line, which extends from the Leidy hub in westernPennsylvania to New York City.

Southern California Gas and TransEnergy Management have formed apartnership to market an integrated software product to unbundlinglocal distributors who are struggling with exponentially greaternumbers of transportation contracts.