Midnight

Ahead of a midnight deadline Friday to comment on the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) draft water quality amendments, those for and against the proposed changes attempted to make their voices heard by delivering thousands of responses to the commissioners.

In the event of a shutdown of the federal government at midnight EDT Friday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said the “vast bulk of the agency’s operations will cease.” It said it will have only 25 staff members overseeing the markets, which will allow the stock markets, commodities and futures exchanges to continue to operate.

SandRidge Energy Inc. is pushing ahead on plans to become a niche natural gas player after throwing down a bid close to midnight last Tuesday to buy bankrupt Crusader Energy Group Inc. in a cash and stock transaction worth an estimated $230 million.

SandRidge Energy Inc. is pushing ahead on plans to become a niche natural gas player after throwing down a bid close to midnight Tuesday to buy bankrupt Crusader Energy Group Inc. in a cash and stock transaction worth an estimated $230 million.

Baker Hughes Inc. struck a cash-and-stock deal valued at $5.5 billion shortly after midnight Monday to acquire shale fracturing expert BJ Services Co., in the largest oilfield services acquisition in more than a decade.

Lea Fastow, wife of the former Enron Corp. CFO Andrew Fastow, was released from a halfway house in Houston just after midnight Friday, ending a year in prison for failing to declare some of her husband’s profits as income.

Before a packed chamber split about equally between opponents and supporters, the Long Beach, CA, City Council just past midnight Wednesday morning voted 5-4 to continue discussions with proponents of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in the city’s harbor. As a result, the city municipal energy department will resume talks that were cut off more than a year ago for a pipeline and LNG supplies from the proposed plant for the city’s natural gas distribution utility.

Before a packed chamber split about equally between opponents and supporters, the Long Beach, CA, City Council just past midnight Wednesday morning voted 5-4 to continue discussions with proponents of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in the city’s harbor. As a result, the city municipal energy department will resume talks that were cut off more than a year ago for a pipeline and LNG supplies from the proposed plant for the city’s natural gas distribution utility.

Ontario’s Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO) successfully opened the province’s competitive electricity marketplace at midnight on May 1, and began calculating market-clearing prices every five minutes for the 239 participants. The new market, run by the IMO, has more than 200 participants, including 93 local distribution companies, 89 industrial consumers, 19 generators, 34 wholesale buyers/sellers and four transmitters.