National

Cash prices overall gained about a dime at most points, but if a handful of New England and highly volatile eastern points are factored in, the national average gain on Monday for Tuesday delivery came in at just under a penny.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) agrees with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that pipeline wall thinning may have significantly contributed to the rupture on the Columbia Gas Transmission in West Virginia last month.

Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF) SA, Argentina’s newly state-owned energy company, announced Friday that it had signed a two-year, $1.5 billion agreement with Bridas Corp. to explore and drill for oil in two of the country’s shale plays.

Physical gas prices overall averaged a healthy gain of 28 cents Monday, but when volatile East and Northeast points are factored out, the national gain was a more modest 4 cents. Points serving the New York and Boston areas finished the day over $15, but the benchmark Henry Hub was just 2 cents higher at just over $3.40. Futures prices slumped on light volume as medium term weather forecasts moderated. At the close February was down 11.8 cents to $3.351 and March had sunk 11.7 cents to $3.365. February crude oil gained $1.02 to $91.82/bbl.

With the clock ticking on an end-of-year deadline, a regional unit of the national Trust for Public Land (TPL) said Friday it is short the full $8.75 million it needs to meet a commitment to Plains Exploration and Production Co. (PXP) to acquire and retire oil and natural gas leases in the Wyoming Range.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) agrees with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that pipeline wall thinning may have significantly contributed to the rupture on the Columbia Gas Transmission in West Virginia earlier this month.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it will begin packing up the section of the Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline that was damaged in the Tuesday blast in West Virginia for it to be sent to its headquarters in Washington, DC, for closer scrutiny.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it plans to investigate this week why no alarms went off when a 20-inch diameter Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline exploded Tuesday near the rural community of Sissonville, WV.

The Canadian government late Friday approved the C$15.1 billion takeover of Canada’s Nexen Inc. by CNOOC Ltd., an arm of state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Co.