Monday

Domestic oil production may be showing signs of slowing down, but analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. don’t think it’s a trend.

A follow-up documentary on natural gas drilling by propagandist Josh Fox premiered on HBO Monday night, offering some half-truths and outright distortions about the oil and gas industry and on President Obama’s energy policies.

Dry natural gas production in the United States, boosted by stronger pipeline flows from the Marcellus Shale, led Goldman Sachs analysts on Monday to revise their forecasts down for prices and lift expectations for end-of-summer storage levels.

Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner Jill Sommers, one of two Republicans at the agency, said she will leave on Monday (July 8), one and a half years before her term is due to end in October 2014. Her resignation does not come as a surprise as she informed President Obama in January that she planned to leave (see NGI, Jan. 28). Asked where she intended to go after the CFTC, Sommers told NGI, “I don’t know. I have not started looking for my next opportunity yet.” Before leaving the agency, she pledged to carry out the investigation into MF Global Holdings Ltd. and former CEO Jon Corzine, a former U.S. senator and New Jersey governor; and an assistant treasurer for illegal use of customer money. The CFTC recently filed a proposed order against MF Global and Corzine, which is the subject of review by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Because CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler had ties to MF Global and Corzine, Sommers was picked to lead the investigation into the company’s collapse, which took with it an estimated $1.2 billion in customer funds (see NGI, Nov. 14, 2011). Sommers has been on the Commission as it worked on Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. She was first sworn in as Commissioner in August 2007 for a term that expired in April 2009 then renominated by Obama to serve a second term. Some CFTC observers consider Christopher Giancarlo, executive vice president of the brokerage firm GFI Group Inc., a likely candidate to replace Sommers. “It’s not a fact, so we’re not going to comment,” said a GFI spokeswoman of the rumors, which she said had been circulating for a few weeks. Giancarlo is no stranger to Capitol Hill. He has testified several times about the challenges of implementing Dodd-Frank.

Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner Jill Sommers, one of two Republicans at the agency, said she will leave on Monday (July 8), one and a half years before her term is due to end in October 2014. Her resignation does not come as a surprise as she informed President Obama in January that she planned to leave (see NGI, Jan. 28). Asked where she intended to go after the CFTC, Sommers told NGI, “I don’t know. I have not started looking for my next opportunity yet.” Before leaving the agency, she pledged to carry out the investigation into MF Global Holdings Ltd. and former CEO Jon Corzine, a former U.S. senator and New Jersey governor; and an assistant treasurer for illegal use of customer money. The CFTC recently filed a proposed order against MF Global and Corzine, which is the subject of review by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Because CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler had ties to MF Global and Corzine, Sommers was picked to lead the investigation into the company’s collapse, which took with it an estimated $1.2 billion in customer funds (see NGI, Nov. 14, 2011). Sommers has been on the Commission as it worked on Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. She was first sworn in as Commissioner in August 2007 for a term that expired in April 2009 then renominated by Obama to serve a second term. Some CFTC observers consider Christopher Giancarlo, executive vice president of the brokerage firm GFI Group Inc., a likely candidate to replace Sommers. “It’s not a fact, so we’re not going to comment,” said a GFI spokeswoman of the rumors, which she said had been circulating for a few weeks. Giancarlo is no stranger to Capitol Hill. He has testified several times about the challenges of implementing Dodd-Frank.

Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) said Monday it will demolish its 1,205 MW oil-fired Port Everglades Power Plant in Port Everglades, FL, on July 16 to make room for a new facility to be fueled by U.S. natural gas. The company called the move one more step toward its goal of energy independence.

IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) reported Monday that it is one step closer to completing its $8.2 billion acquisition of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) following “unconditional approval” from the European Commission. The deal is still subject to final approval from the Euronext College of Regulators, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other national financial regulators.

Crestwood Niobrara LLC is buying a 50% interest in Jackalope Gas Gathering Services LLC from RKI Exploration & Production LLC for $108 million, parent Crestwood Midstream Partners LP said Monday.

A research report from Goldman Sachs was touted Monday as further support for why the U.S. State Department should reject the proposed northern portion of the TransCanada Corp. multi-billion-dollar 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline stretching from Alberta Canada to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).