Migrating

Responding to Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.’s “public relations” announcement a day earlier, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary John Hanger on Wednesday said he would continue to hold the company responsible for groundwater contamination in Dimock Township, PA.

Only four drinking water wells in Dimock Township, PA, have methane exceeding the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) suggested action levels, according to data released Tuesday by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., which said the study is further evidence that its natural gas drilling operations did not contaminate groundwater in the area.

BP Energy Co.’s ability to market natural gas in the western United States has improved with the completion of its acquisition of Salt Lake City-based marketer Wasatch Energy LLC. The acquisition was announced in December (see NGI, Dec. 25, 2006). The deal, for an undisclosed amount, gives BP Energy all of Wasatch’s natural gas business and assets, including commercial and industrial sales contracts and producer services contracts. Wasatch’s 42 employees also were offered the opportunity to transfer to BP Energy. Wasatch has a portfolio of 350,000 MMBtu/d of gas purchase, transportation and sales activity across 10 western states that serve about 500 commercial and industrial customers and 100 producers. Its sales offices are located in New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, and California.

The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. is migrating its after-hours Access trading to the CME Globex electronic platform and adding physically delivered gas contracts to the mix, as its nemesis, the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), reports setting more trading records in July.

The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. is migrating its after-hours Access trading to the CME Globex electronic platform and adding physically delivered gas contracts to the mix, as its nemesis, the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), reports setting more trading records in July.

The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (Nymex) said Thursday that it is migrating its after-hours energy futures contracts from Nymex Access, the exchange’s after-hours electronic trading system, to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) Globex electronic trading platform, which operates virtually 24 hours each trading day, beginning on August 6 for trade date August 7. The migration will include the physically delivered crude oil, natural gas, heating oil, gasoline and propane futures, as well as the platinum and palladium futures contracts, all of which will trade only prior to the opening and following the market close of the Nymex floor. “Nymex is continuing on-track with its phased plan to create a more liquid and robust energy trading model with the renowned CME Globex technology,” said Nymex CEO James E. Newsome. The launch of Nymex products on the CME Globex platform took place early last month (see Daily GPI, June 12). “Providing around the clock access and increasing global distribution of Nymex products via CME Globex will benefit market participants seeking access to the world’s most recognizable energy contracts,” said CME CEO Craig Donohue. “CME Globex provides transparency, reliability and increased transaction speed to deliver the deep pools of liquidity that customers demand.”

Procurement of natural gas imports for the northeastern United States is changing methods and migrating from Alberta to Ontario, where TransCanada PipeLines will overhaul its eastern end to accommodate the switch.