Offered

Wyoming’s Bureau of Land Management garnered more than $6.17 million for leasing rights and rental fees offered at its bimonthly federal oil and gas lease auction held in Cheyenne Aug. 1. That marks a more than 40% increase over proceeds from the state’s previous sale in June. By comparison, the June sale garnered $4.4 million. The state gets half of the sale proceeds.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) on Friday concurred with a staff recommendation that staff not accept a recent proposal offered by Exelon and Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) related to the companies’ pending merger. A green light from the NJBPU remains the final regulatory hurdle the merger must clear before it can close.

Fearing that the protections for Florida offered in the Senate’s Lease Sale 181 bill might be gutted if merged with the House’s more expansive bill for drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said he will offer an amendment during debate on the Lease 181 bill this week that will ask senators to reject up-front the competing House offshore bill.

The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (Nymex) on Friday announced the proposed fee schedule for the initial slate of the energy futures contracts that will be offered for side-by-side trading on CME Globex, the electronic trading platform of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, on June 11 for trade date June 12. The company noted that all listed fees are quoted on a per side basis.

The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. Friday announced the contract specifications for the initial slate of energy futures contracts that will be offered for side by side trading on CME Globex, the electronic trading platform of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, on June 11 for trade date June 12.

The Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse said Wednesday it sold over $30 million in properties at its hybrid auction held Feb. 2 in Houston. The auction offered 218 lots at this Selective Offering (TM), including “numerous higher-valued, notable properties.” Nearly 300 registered bidders competed on the 218 lots, 27% of which bid on the Internet. The company’s Hybrid auction process allows Internet bidders the opportunity to compete simultaneously and on a real-time basis against floor bidders. Some of the more notable properties included: Anchor Bay — sold various properties in 10 separate transactions in the Rockies (Colorado and Wyoming) for approximately $7,000,000; Anson Properties — Strong City District Field in Roger Mills County, OK for $650,000; Chevron — Quito East Field in Ward, TX for $2,800,000; Featherstone Development — Clayton Ranch North Field in Borden, TX for $925,000; Liberty Energy — Bayou Sorrell Field in Iberville Parish, LA for $1,100,000; Garden City Field in St. Mary Parish, LA for $750,000; Carter North Field in Beckham, OK for $687,000; Watonga-Chickas in Caddo County, OK for $625,000; Yucca Butte Field in Pecos, TX for $1,700,000; MZG Mineral Holdings — Profit Island Field in Pointe Coupee Parish, LA for $1,000,000; Reichmann Petroleum — Jennings Ranch Field in Zapata County, TX for $2,800,000; and San Saba Energy — Thompsonville NE Field in Jim Hogg County, TX for $800,000. The Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse provides Internet-enabled transaction and brokerage services for the acquisition and divestiture of oil and gas properties. The clearinghouse is an affiliate of Tristone Capital, a North American full-service investment banking firm specializing in the energy industry.

The Alaska Gasline Port Authority (AGPA), in the latest bid to get natural gas from Alaska to market, says it has another buyer to replace Sempra Energy and has offered to take the state’s royalty gas off its hands. The Port Authority plan is to build an 800-mile, 3 Bcf/d intrastate pipeline from the North Slope to Valdez, where the gas would be liquefied and shipped to the West Coast of the Lower 48.

In an effort to bring local control and public ownership to the utility that serves them, a consortium of Montana municipalities on Thursday offered to acquire 100% of NorthWestern Corp.’s outstanding common stock. In response, NorthWestern’s board of directors said that while it does not comment on “rumors,” it has concluded that the “informal proposal” is not in the best interests of the company and its stockholders.

On completion of an extensive bid evaluation process, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) said it has accepted high bids valued at $342,027,467 for 403 tracts offered in Oil and Gas Lease Sale 194 and awarded leases to the successful high bidders. Fifty-seven percent of the tracts receiving bids were in shallow waters of less than 200 meters.