Margins

Lifted by high commodity prices and refinery margins, Chevron Corp. topped Wall Street expectations in the third quarter, reporting that profits nearly doubled from a year earlier to $7.8 billion ($3.92/share) from $3.8 billion ($1.87). A consensus forecast by analysts had expected earnings to average $3.48/share in the latest period.

National Oilwell Varco Inc.’s (NOV) backlog for capital equipment orders jumped by one-third from the end of March to the end of June, the oilfield services operator said Tuesday.

Kinder Morgan Inc.’s (KMI) acquisition of El Paso Corp. is taking place in a world of growing gas supply from nonhistoric basins, which is driving the need for new and different infrastructure: gas and liquids pipelines, processing, fractionation, etc. It’s too soon to say how a combined KMI-El Paso will play the infrastructure game, but consolidation among others shouldn’t be a surprise, energy analysts told NGI.

Companies that aim to export domestic shale gas can expect to face a tough spot market, according to Terry Engelder, the Penn State University geosciences professor who helped prove the value of the Marcellus Shale.

Ending a three-day streak of lower closes by the thinnest of margins, prompt-month natural gas futures on Friday traded below $4 for the first time since the December contract did it on Nov. 19. However, January futures ended up rallying to close at $4.066, up 1.8 cents from Thursday’s finish but down 35.1 cents from the previous week’s finish.

North American operators are continuing to shift from conventional natural gas plays “to oil and shales, particularly the gas and condensate plays,” which puts Weatherford International Ltd. in a particularly strong position, CEO Bernard Duroc-Danner said Tuesday.

U.S. natural gas output for some of the largest domestic producers inched up sequentially in the final three months of 2009 from 3Q2009, according to a survey issued Friday by SunTrust Robinson Humphrey/the Gerdes Group (STRH).

U.S. natural gas output for some of the largest domestic producers inched up sequentially in the final three months of 2009 from 3Q2009, according to a survey issued Friday by SunTrust Robinson Humphrey/the Gerdes Group (STRH).

The House went down to the wire Friday on the sweeping climate change and energy bill, with lawmakers passing it by the slimmest of margins. House Democrats managed to keep climate change alive in this Congress — barely.