Internet

Casper, WY-based Moser Energy Systems, a privately held, 40-year-old family-run enterprise, has found a steadily growing market for its natural gas-fueled industrial-grade engines in the hottest of the shale plays: the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas.

The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) has developed a Internet-based mapping tool to help community officials plan for road maintenance, dust control and other traffic-related problems that accompany expanded oil and natural gas development in the Bakken Shale and adjacent formations. The enhanced mapping includes information and locations for “permit status before spud” to provide the pre-drilling status for newly permitted well sites. It provides a new layer to the DMR oil/gas division’s GIS mapping system, enabling planners to identify where truck traffic could be most concentrated for a given period. “Users will be able to identify the operator of the rig and or well, as well as possible time frames when permits could be drilled,” said Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. The GIS map server is available at the DMR website as part of the North Dakota Industrial Commission (www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas).

For the second time in a matter of weeks, President Obama Tuesday acknowledged that natural gas will play a critical role in the nation’s energy portfolio going forward.

The former COO of Enron Corp.’s Internet division, Enron Broadband Services (EBS), was sentenced in Houston Monday to two years in federal prison.

Former Enron Corp. CFO Andrew Fastow has been the object of “unprecedented public humiliation” on television, in Congressional hearings, in books, magazines, the Internet and in “written and verbal insults and threats,” and he is requesting leniency when he is sentenced to federal prison next week.

In just three years, the energy merchant sector has evolved from an Internet-based, North American-focused Enron-dominated industry into something the new players say is smaller, but better, where success may turn on a telephone call instead of computer screen, and where future business trades may be global instead of regional.

In just three years, the energy merchant sector has evolved from an Internet-based, North American-focused Enron-dominated industry into something the new players say is smaller, but better, where success may turn on a telephone call instead of computer screen, and where future business trades will be global instead of regional.

NiSource Inc. Monday debuted a new section of its internet Web site highlighting the company’s extensive corporate governance practices. The NiSource Board of Directors recently approved updated corporate governance guidelines, which are available via the company’s Web site along with NiSource’s code of ethics, business ethics program, biographies of the company’s board members and senior management, organizational documents, board committee membership and charters and other information. The company’s corporate governance guidelines define the systems and processes by which the company ensures appropriate accountability and openness in the conduct of its business. The information is available via the company’s home page, www.nisource.com in the Investor Relations section.

The Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse will hold its next Hybrid Live Floor/Internet Auction, offering 1,525 quality oil and gas properties combined into 253 lots, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Jan. 30. For the third consecutive year, the clearinghouse has been selected to hold an auction in conjunction with the North American Prospect Expo (NAPE). Properties in the auction are located in 15 states. Sellers include BP, 3-TEC Energy, PITCO, Redstone Energy, Bass Enterprises, Permian Basin Acquisition Fund, Delta Petroleum, Yuma, Casillas Petroleum and many others. Some of the more notable properties being offered include Red River Production’s Ladder Creek Field in Cheyenne County, CO; Southwestern Energy’s Wattenberg Field in Weld County, CO; Harris Oil & Gas’ Victory Field in Haskell and Morton Counties, KS; and Bass Enterprises’ Leleux Field in Acadia Parish, LA. The properties can be previewed online through Data Room Explorer hosted on the Petroleum Place web site (www.petroleumplace.com). Data rooms, including complete seller files for most of the notable properties, are open through Jan. 27. Call the clearinghouse at (281) 873-4600 to schedule a data room appointment. A pre-sale conference will be held Jan. 29 at the convention center from 8 to 5 p.m. All seller files will be available for review at that time.