Montana

Montana’s 0.5% “tax holiday” tariff on new oil/natural gas production would be increased to 4.5% under a proposal (HB 215) in the state legislature.

The energy-focused private equity firm First Reserve has agreed to acquire Cleveland-based Gas Natural Inc. and its five subsidiary companies for an all-stock deal worth $196 million in yet another utility merger.

MDU Resources Group Inc. has sold its remaining marketed oil and natural gas production assets, signaling the end of subsidiary Fidelity Exploration and Production Co., the company announced last week.

MDU Resources Group Inc. has sold its remaining marketed oil and natural gas production assets, signaling the end of subsidiary Fidelity Exploration and Production Co., the company announced last week.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Montana has postponed a Jan. 26 oil and natural gas lease sale in Billings, MT, the third time since November the agency has delayed an auction (see Daily GPI, Dec. 7, 2015; Nov. 17, 2015).

Three environmental groups received a favorable opinion from the U.S. District Court for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco last Monday, remanding their challenge to U.S. Bureau Land Management (BLM) leases to the federal district court judge in Montana who previously rejected their claims.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has signed an agreement to work cooperatively with federal and state officials to preserve greater sage grouse habitat on working rangelands.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock on Monday declared a state of emergency in two counties along the Yellowstone River that were hit by a spill of up to 50,000 gallons of crude oil Saturday morning. State officials said there was no threat to public safety or health.

Continuing to fetch higher per-acre prices, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took in $49.8 million last Wednesday, selling 87 leases totaling 19,015 acres in North and South Dakota, the BLM Billings, MT, office said. South Dakota had the most activity.