Offering

House Republicans are offering an alternative to the Obama administration’s plan for drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), which would nearly double the number of lease sales now proposed over the 2012-2017 period and open up new areas — the Mid-Atlantic and Southern California — to exploration.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) has cut the corporate credit rating of Fort Worth, TX-based FTS International Services LLC, one of the top five hydraulic fracturing (fracking) service providers in North America, because it said capacity additions and rising costs, combined with moderating demand and low natural gas prices, are pressuring margins in the fracture stimulation industry.

Offering new guidelines on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), North Dakota’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) said Wednesday its 2012 oil/gas rule changes were approved as of Wednesday and become effective April 1. The revised rules cleared the state’s Administrative Rules Committee Wednesday morning, according to a DMR spokesperson.

Quicksilver Resources Inc. said that its Barnett Shale subsidiary, Quicksilver Production Partners LP (QPP), has registered for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

U.S. landlubber SandRidge Energy Inc. has taken the wind out of the sails of investors eager to take part in an initial public offering (IPO) of Dynamic Offshore Resources LLC after agreeing to buy the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) producer outright for nearly $1.28 billion.

U.S. landlubber SandRidge Energy Inc. has taken the wind out of the sails of investors eager to take part in an initial public offering (IPO) of Dynamic Offshore Resources LLC after agreeing to buy the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) producer outright for nearly $1.28 billion.

Quicksilver Resources Inc. has priced a public offering of 6,967,844 units of BreitBurn Energy Partners LP. The units are offered at $16.52 each. Closing is expected to occur on or about Dec. 5. Analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. said the move was expected as part of Quicksilver’s liquidity plan (see Daily GPI, Oct. 21) and a “smart move to take advantage of an open equity/capital markets window.” Underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,045,177 additional units from Quicksilver to cover over allotments.

While the Marcellus Shale continues to drive growth for National Fuel Gas (NFG) Co., the Williamsville, NY-based company is now offering details on its short-term plans for the Upper Devonian/Geneseo and the Utica shales, the company told analysts recently.

TransCanada Corp. is offering a 32% cut in tolls next year on its Mainline from Alberta to central Canada and the United States through a “comprehensive restructuring” to revive traffic on the beleaguered, half-century-old natural gas conduit.