Hurdles

The $595 million merger of Chesapeake Utilities Corp. and Florida Public Utilities Co. (FPU) has cleared all state regulatory hurdles and the two utilities said they will now file their joint proxy with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Senate plans to take a second look at the $10 billion omnibus lands bill Monday in an apparent attempt to get around some of the procedural hurdles that have stalled the measure in the House. The bill would take millions of acres of public lands in the West off the table for potential oil and natural gas development.

Global futures exchange CME Group said Tuesday that it has passed two key regulatory hurdles 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, but CME is awaiting action by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

San Diego, CA-based Sempra Energy, which passed a milestone on the West Coast and hit some hurdles near the Gulf last week, continues to bet that new natural gas pipelines, storage and LNG terminals will be needed for years to come.

While there are still many regulatory and technology hurdles, the seeming inevitable union of clean coal carbon capture and storage in the power industry with carbon dioxide-hungry enhanced oil recovery (EOR) seems more likely to take place in the current world of $100/bbl oil and a push to lessen the future impact of global climate change. Ultimately how and how much value is placed on carbon dioxide (CO2) will have a lot to say about the impending marriage.

Looking for some early holiday cheer, two Oregon liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects expect to clear local hurdles in their respective permitting processes this week. Both NorthernStar Natural Gas’s Bradwood Landing LNG project along the Columbia River and the Jordan Cove Energy Project LP at Coos Bay along the Pacific Coast hope to be able to concentrate on the FERC process next year.

Regulatory and monetary hurdles remain, but the Canadian government last week completed a C$25 million (US$23.9 million) agreement with the Dene Tha’ First Nation in Alberta to resolve one of the disputes that has blocked the Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) from moving forward.

Regulatory and monetary hurdles remain, but the Canadian government has completed a C$25 million (US$23.9 million) agreement with the Dene Tha’ First Nation in Alberta to resolve one of the disputes that has entangled the Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) from moving forward.

Dynegy Inc. last Monday said that FERC has approved the company’s previously announced plans to purchase from Exelon Corp. all of the outstanding capital stock of ExRes SHC Inc., the parent company of Sithe Energies Inc. and Sithe Independence LP.