Hook

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP said that as its former crude oil refinery in Marcus Hook, PA, along the Delaware River south of Philadelphia, transforms into a major East Coast export terminal, it could soon rival similar facilities along the Gulf Coast and provide a number of advantages to Northeast oil and gas producers.

Days after a Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary announced that it intends to purchase a site in Pennsylvania — presumably for its “world-scale” ethane cracker in the Marcellus Shale — media reports are fueling speculation that two companies are interested in building their own crackers in West Virginia, with one possibly making their announcement today, Wednesday.

The love fest in U.S. unconventional natural gas and oil fields rang in the new year, with a trio of hook-ups marrying Chinese, French and Japanese production companies with some of the largest domestic producers in multi-year joint ventures (JV) adding up to $5.8 billion.

Hitting an all-time high in domestic U.S. energy production with shale plays as a major driver, Occidental Petroleum Corp.(Oxy) still looks to cut its natural gas production in the Midcontinent basins because of continuing low prices, CEO Stephen Chazen said Thursday.

Linn Energy LLC said Monday it plans to acquire a 40% interest in oil and gas properties from two privately held companies — Tulsa-based Panther Energy Company LLC and Perryton, TX-based Red Willow Mid-Continent LLC — as it looks to expand in the Anadarko Basin and capitalize on Panther’s expertise in horizontal drilling.

Aware that the company’s share price was treading near single-digit territory and on the hook for some admittedly poor business decisions, Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon came out swinging last week, telling energy analysts and investors that the company has “plenty of liquidity” and will weather the economic storm by neutralizing capital expenditures (capex) over the next two years. Even with flat spending, the Oklahoma City-based natural gas driller still expects to achieve 5-10% production growth in 2009 and 10-15% gains in 2010.

FERC last Wednesday said 11 major energy companies, several of which had publicly admitted to supplying false data to published indexes on natural gas trades, have shown to the agency’s satisfaction that they have plugged up the holes in their systems for reporting prices to forestall abuses in the future.

FERC on Wednesday said 11 major energy companies, several of which had publicly admitted to supplying false data to published indexes on natural gas trades, have satisfactorily shown the agency that they have improved their systems for reporting prices in the future.

Federal investigators last week ordered Reliant Resources Inc. and CenterPoint Energy (formerly Reliant Energy Inc.) to cease violations of the anti-fraud and reporting/record-keeping requirements of federal securities laws as part of a settlement entered into between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the companies. No wrongdoing was admitted by the energy companies. No penalties were involved.