Looking

Honeywell’s UOP business is buying a 70% stake in Thomas Russell Co., a privately held provider of technology and equipment for natural gas processing and treating. UOP provides process technology, materials and equipment to petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. It will now be able to offer a range of technologies and products that allow shale and conventional natural gas producers to remove contaminants from natural gas and recover high-value natural gas liquids (NGL). Founded in 2002, Tulsa, OK-based Thomas Russell specializes in the design, engineering, fabrication and start-up of skid-mounted modular packaged plants systems for the recovery and upgrading of NGLs. UOP is paying $525 million in cash for the interest and has a right to acquire the remaining 30% stake. Closing, subject to conditions, is expected during the fourth quarter.

Looking to allay concerns from customers that some of its new product offerings will force a change in how they trade, CME Group issued an open letter last week that more fully explains how the exchange will operate once Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act regulations on swap dealer registrations going into effect Oct. 12. The exchange also explained in more depth the previously announced rollout of a broad suite of new natural gas and power contracts that will be listed as futures on CME Globex, the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) trading floor and CME ClearPort, and will be available for trading on CME Direct, a platform offering side-by-side trading and straight-through processing and clearing of exchange-listed and over the counter (OTC) energy markets.

Oil and natural gas companies looking to drill within regulated interstate river basins need to familiarize themselves with issues facing the local river basin commission and take those issues seriously before ultimately deciding whether to drill, an industry attorney said.

Looking to allay concerns from customers that some of its new product offerings will force a change in how they trade, CME Group issued an open letter Monday that more fully explains how the exchange will operate once Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act regulations on swap dealer registrations go into effect Oct. 12. The exchange also explained in more depth the previously announced rollout of a broad suite of new natural gas and power contracts that will be listed as futures on CME Globex, the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) trading floor and CME ClearPort, and will be available for trading on CME Direct, a platform offering side-by-side trading and straight-through processing and clearing of exchange-listed and over the counter (OTC) energy markets.

An executive order (EO) issued by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett on Tuesday requires the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to immediately start looking for ways to speed up the permit process for applications to drill.

Landowner groups in Ohio say they are battling it out with Chesapeake Energy Corp., the largest leaseholder in the Utica Shale, over the company’s attempts to renegotiate leases to expand acreage and increase the size of drilling units.

Looking for ways to step on the accelerator for natural gas vehicles (NGV), Colorado and Oklahoma state officials — including the two respective governors — paid a visit to Detroit Monday to urge U.S. auto manufacturers to get behind what they are outlining as a “multi-state, bipartisan compressed natural gas (CNG) initiative” to put more vehicles on the road.

For drillers of any stripe it’s looking dark until the second half of 2014, energy analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. said last week. A “meaningful rebound” isn’t likely until the second half of 2014 and through 2015, they wrote in a note to clients.

For drillers of any stripe it’s looking dark until the second half of 2014, energy analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. said Monday. A “meaningful rebound” isn’t likely until the second half of 2014 and through 2015, they wrote in a note to clients.