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Johnnie Burton, who has directed the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) for five years, said she is leaving at the end of May. She plans to return to her home in Wyoming, she told Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.

A new depleted reservoir storage project announced last week would be the easternmost gas storage on the Texas Eastern Transmission pipeline and could provide a home for gas supply from the Dominion Cove Point LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal. Spectra Energy and New Jersey Resources have formed a partnership to develop and operate the facility, which would have more than 10 Bcf of working capacity to serve markets in Pennsylvania and the northeastern United States.

With increased demand at home, Canada had less natural gas to export to the U.S. during the gas contract year that ended last Oct. 31, a final tally by the National Energy Board (NEB) showed. Canadian exports to the United States shrank by 4.8% during the contract year, the NEB said. Total contract year pipeline deliveries to all U.S. destinations were 3.55 Tcf, down from 3.73 Tcf in the 12 months that ended Oct. 31, 2005.

With increased demand at home, Canada had less natural gas to export to the U.S. during the gas contract year that ended last Oct. 31, a final tally by the National Energy Board (NEB) showed. Canadian exports to the United States shrank by 4.8% during the contract year, the NEB said. Total contract year pipeline deliveries to all U.S. destinations were 3.55 Tcf, down from 3.73 Tcf in the 12 months that ended Oct. 31, 2005.

A contractor working on a natural gas meter in an Allentown, PA, home on Saturday apparently removed the wrong fitting, which allowed gas to escape and lead to an explosion that leveled three homes and damaged a fourth, according to UGI Utilities. No one was seriously injured, according to authorities.

Despite eleventh-hour negotiations, House and Senate leaders headed home for the November elections without reaching a compromise on legislation to open up more of the federal offshore to oil and natural gas leasing. The Republican leadership is expected to take up the issue of coastal drilling in the lame-duck session, which — depending on the outcome of the elections — could make a deal even more elusive.

Despite eleventh-hour negotiations, House and Senate leaders headed home for the November elections without reaching a compromise on legislation to open up more of the federal offshore to oil and natural gas leasing. The Republican leadership is expected to take up the issue of coastal drilling in the lame-duck session, which — depending on the outcome of the elections — could make a deal even more elusive.

A former assistant treasurer for Enron Corp. on Friday received four years probation, four months home confinement, a $10,000 fine and was ordered to do 300 hours of community service work for his misdeeds while working at the now-defunct company.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Thursday said he would oppose any plan that would seek to levy a tax on oil companies to help pay for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) this winter.