Officially

With the approval of Western Gas Resources Inc. shareholders Wednesday, Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. officially completed the $21.1 billion cash acquisition of producers Western Gas and Kerr-McGee Corp.

Dirk Kempthorne, former governor of Idaho, was officially sworn in Wednesday as the secretary of the Department of Interior in a ceremony at the White House. He succeeds former Interior Secretary Gale Norton who departed in March.

With the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season officially kicking off last Thursday, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) on Monday released its “final report” on Gulf of Mexico gas and oil production shut-ins related to the damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the 2005 hurricane season.

With CEO Steve Baum officially retired on Wednesday, and a new three-person senior management team from within the company, Sempra Energy expects to stay its current course, including timely sales of assets, continued development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and related facilities, along with holding on to its so-far successful trading operation, Sempra’s new CFO, Mark Snell, told a session at the Credit Suisse Energy Summit Tuesday in Vail, CO.

With CEO Steve Baum officially retired on Wednesday, and a new three-person senior management team from within the company, Sempra Energy expects to stay its current course, including timely sales of assets, continued development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and related facilities, along with holding on to its so-far successful trading operation, Sempra’s new CFO, Mark Snell, told a session at the Credit Suisse Energy Summit Tuesday in Vail, CO.

The earnings season has officially kicked off, and the gusher of profits expected to be unveiled in 4Q2005 and year-end announcements by the majors and independents is expected to overwhelm any losses from last year’s hurricanes, industry experts said this week. On the pages detailing high profits, however, will be the challenges of finding new oil and natural gas, and the expectation by shareholders that the good times will continue to roll.

As announced a year ago and in anticipation of the current CEO’s retirement next month, Sempra Energy’s board of directors Wednesday officially elected Donald E. Felsinger, 58, as chairman and CEO of the San Diego-based utility holding company. The board also named two other top senior officers.

Dynegy Inc. officially stepped out of the natural gas midstream business on Tuesday, with the $2.475 billion sale of its gas gathering, processing and liquids operations to Targa Resources Inc., a tightly held Houston-based midstream operator affiliated with private equity investor Warburg Pincus. Dynegy now plans to consider “every opportunity” for its remaining power generation business, the CEO said.

The removal of investment restrictions when the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) is officially repealed in February must not “become a new impetus or justification for continuing the era of adversarial relationships between the utility sector and state or federal regulators,” David Sokol, chairman of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., said last Tuesday. “It absolutely is past time for all of us to work together to meet tomorrow’s challenges in this sector.”