Mountains

With 85% now “welded up,” El Paso Corp. can see the finish line for its anticipated Ruby Pipeline, which will carry natural gas from the Rocky Mountains to West Coast markets, but winter weather, permit delays and sage grouse habitat concerns have forced the completion schedule to slip to July, the pipeline chief told investors on Thursday.

With 85% now “welded up,” El Paso Corp. can see the finish line for its anticipated Ruby Pipeline, which will carry natural gas from the Rocky Mountains to West Coast markets, but winter weather, permit delays and sage grouse habitat concerns have forced the completion schedule to slip to July, the company’s pipeline chief told investors on Thursday.

In the summer of 2011, expanding natural gas pipeline export capacity could collide with rising production from the Rocky Mountains, according to a study by Societe Generale energy analysts.

In the summer of 2011, expanding natural gas pipeline export capacity could collide with rising production from the Rocky Mountains, according to a study by Societe Generale energy analysts.

Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. and a drilling partner are packing up and moving operations out of two Pennsylvania counties after determining that the first natural gas wells drilled in Luzerne County, PA, “were unlikely to produce natural gas in commercial quantities.”

Junior producer Pinnacle Gas Resources Inc., which explores for coalbed methane (CBM) across the Rocky Mountains, said Wednesday it would be taken private in an all-cash transaction by an investor group that agreed to pay a 28% premium to the company’s closing price on Wednesday.

Junior producer Pinnacle Gas Resources Inc., which explores for coalbed methane (CBM) across the Rocky Mountains, said Wednesday it would be taken private in an all-cash transaction by an investor group that agreed to pay a 28% premium to the company’s closing price on Wednesday.

Bison Pipeline LLC (Bison) has filed an application at FERC to build a major natural gas pipeline that would provide a new northbound route out of the Rocky Mountains to Midwest markets.

Steep declines in North American drilling activity, especially in the Rocky Mountains, Permian Basin and Midcontinent, pushed down Halliburton’s 1Q2009 earnings from a year ago and forced a 12% reduction to its U.S. and Canadian workforce, the CEO said last week. A sharp drop in U.S. gas drilling also sent Schlumberger Ltd.’s quarterly profits down 28%.