Incredible

Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar reiterated Tuesday that the Obama administration is continuing to develop draft rules for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in drilling operations, which he said would not slow the natural gas and oil boom.

Pennsylvania’s shale plays “are an incredible opportunity” for the job-starved state, according to incoming Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, who declared that he and Gov. Tom Corbett “will send a message that Pennsylvania is open for business.”

Incredible as it may seem, at least one Rockies trader was willing to let gas go for the weekend at a penny Friday. IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) reported that a 1-cent deal was among 84 trades done on its on-line system. Obviously very little changed hands at such a low level, as other Opal quotes on ICE ran as high as $1.31 and the point averaged about 95 cents Friday in NGI’s survey.

Torrential rains that have swept through Oklahoma and other parts of the Midwest and Texas have come at an “incredible cost to the oil and gas industry,” the chairman of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (OIPA) said last week.

Torrential rains that have swept through Oklahoma and other parts of the Midwest and Texas have come at an “incredible cost to the oil and gas industry,” the chairman of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (OIPA) said Tuesday.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski met with the premiers of three Canadian provinces Monday to discuss the Alaska gas pipeline project, which ultimately will have to run through the Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta. Murkowski said all three premiers “committed to support good faith negotiations between their governments, North Slope oil producers and Canadian pipeline companies to ensure the most expeditious development of the project.”

In a saga that could be renamed “The Incredible Shrinking Company,” Enron Corp. told the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a filing last week that up to 38% of the total assets it listed when it filed for bankruptcy — $24 billion in assets and derivative values — should be erased because of “possible accounting errors or irregularities” that overstated the company’s value. The company also warned of a possible $8-10 billion reduction to unwind some of its derivatives contracts.

Enron Corp.’s incredible stumble in the stock market and continued concerns by the investment community may offer some inroads for other energy companies that have long envied the world’s largest energy trader’s ability to capture and sustain its huge share of the marketplace. Some analysts are even speculating that Enron could possibly become a takeover target, an irony considering it has long been considered the model energy marketer that has set the gold standard for others to follow.