Negotiating

With the initial 30-day negotiating period set to expire, CME Group Inc., owner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and Nymex Holdings Inc., owner of the New York Mercantile Exchange, on Tuesday have agreed to extend talks regarding CME’s potential acquisition of Nymex until March 15, they said Tuesday.

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) currently is negotiating with 22 companies to recoup royalties on oil and natural gas production from flawed deepwater Gulf of Mexico leases that were issued by the agency in 1998 and 1999, according to MMS Director Johnnie Burton.

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) currently is negotiating with 22 companies to include price triggers in the faulty deepwater oil and natural gas leases that were issued by the agency in 1998 and 1999, according to MMS Director Johnnie Burton.

Brooklyn, NY-based KeySpan Corp. said Monday that it is negotiating with a labor union representing more than 3,000 workers at the energy company and its affiliates to address their concerns over potential job losses stemming from the proposed $11.8 billion merger of KeySpan and the United Kingdom’s National Grid

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is negotiating with other senators on the Lease Sale 181 bill that was voted out by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in March, Frank Macchiarola, majority counsel for the Senate Energy Committee said Tuesday in a briefing to gas industry representatives in Washington, DC. He said he expects the legislation, which would allow drilling in a small portion of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, to be taken up for a floor vote soon but could not predict exactly when that would happen (see Daily GPI, May 12).

TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Canada’s top natural gas transporter, has put an end to prolonged conflicts with its customers by negotiating rate settlements on its principal delivery systems. The pipeline company announced a three-year agreement on Thursday on key items for establishing tolls on its Nova gas-gathering network in Alberta, source for about four-fifths of Canadian production.

TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Canada’s top natural gas transporter, has put an end to prolonged conflicts with its customers by negotiating rate settlements on its principal delivery systems. The pipeline company announced a three-year agreement on Thursday on key items for establishing tolls on its Nova gas-gathering network in Alberta, source for about four-fifths of Canadian production.

After negotiating in January with Battle Creek, MI, officials and receiving final approval from the Battle Creek City Commission, Semco Energy Inc. said Thursday that its Semco Energy Gas Co. will implement its three-year adjustment in natural gas base rates.

BP plc apparently is negotiating a swap with Russia’s Gazprom so that BP can gain natural gas pipeline access in Europe and Gazprom can gain access to the growing U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) market. If the transaction is completed, it would be the second for Gazprom, which signed a memorandum of understanding with ChevronTexaco last month to undertake a joint U.S. oil and gas project (see NGI, Sept. 27).