Moment

Energy commodity prices aren’t cooperating in any arena at the moment, but ConocoPhillips is confident that diverting its natural gas rigs to more liquids targets in North America is the right path forward, CEO Ryan Lance said Wednesday.

With the Marcellus and Utica shale ethane situation under control for the moment, propane is becoming the next natural gas liquid (NGL) to trouble producers in Appalachia.

Penn Virginia Corp. CEO H. Baird Whitehead admitted to financial analysts Thursday that the company is “essentially a one-trick pony at this moment” due to its heavy focus on the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas. However, he said, “we think it’s a pretty good-looking pony.”

It was difficult for traders to draw any useful conclusions about market direction Tuesday as the April contract expired. For the moment an atmosphere of caution permeates the bullish camp as traders look for Monday’s highs to be breached before making additional buys. At the end of the day April had shed 13.4 cents to $4.240 and May lost 18.5 cents to $4.263. April crude oil rose 81 cents to $104.79/bbl.

Labeling the success of China and other countries in clean energy industries as a new “Sputnik Moment” for the United States, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Monday that America needs to mobilize its innovation machine “so that we can compete in the global race for the jobs of the future.”

Higher costs and a sustained drop in natural gas prices appear likely to continue into 2008, forcing some of the largest producers in Western Canada to cut their capital budgets and leading more of the smaller gas-heavy independents to sell assets or consolidate, energy executives said at a conference in Toronto.

September natural gas futures staged a stout 29.1-cent advance Monday to settle at $6.499, and for the moment all concern of bin-busting inventories and low demand have been put on the back burner. The latest government figures show that funds and managed accounts increased their short holdings by more than 20%, thus adding to the overwhelming short holdings (and number of ultimate buyers) of speculative accounts.

In a moment long awaited by the energy industry and consumers, President Bush Wednesday is expected to sign into law legislation that will open up the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas leasing, according to Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) office.

The Bush administration has drawn new boundaries in the eastern Gulf of Mexico that give Louisiana authority over waters that are close to 100 miles from Florida’s shores, and includes portions of the gas-rich Lease Sale 181, according to a legislative aide for Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), a staunch opponent of oil and gas drilling off the Sunshine State’s coastline. But Interior Department and offshore industry officials say Nelson’s office is overreacting.