Officially

With a revamped business model designed to focus on natural gas processing, Oneok Inc. officially exited the power business Friday with the sale of its Spring Creek plant in Logan County, OK to Westar Energy Inc. for $53 million. The transaction will result in a 3Q loss in discontinued operations, but improved gas processing spreads and higher commodity prices will push Oneok’s quarterly income and earnings well ahead of forecasts, the company said Friday.

With shareholder approval, Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Trading & Transport officially merged on Tuesday, ending a dual corporate structure that had lasted more than 100 years.

Summer officially began early Tuesday morning, and it’s highly unlikely that many people will be mistaking it for any other seasons. Actually it will be feeling more like typical midsummer heat throughout much of the U.S. Tuesday, and the big boost in power generation load, aided and abetted by residual screen strength from late last week, sent cash prices higher by double-digit amounts in most cases Monday.

While winter may be officially coming to an end, WSI Corp. said the April-through-June period should average cooler than normal in the major cities of the northeastern United States, along with the entire southwestern quarter of the country.

While winter may be officially coming to an end, WSI Corp. said the April-through-June period should average cooler than normal in the major cities of the northeastern United States, along with the entire southwestern quarter of the country.

Samuel Bodman, who was confirmed by unanimous consent as energy secretary earlier this week, officially took over the reins at the Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday.

Before he was officially replaced Tuesday by one of the three members from the state public utilities commission, Nevada’s lame duck Consumer Advocate Tim Hay fired a legal broadside against Reliant Energy and some of its affiliates, alleging they conspired with now bankrupt Enron Corp. to drive up wholesale power and natural gas costs in Nevada and California during the infamous 2000-2001 energy market meltdown.

Only a small part of the energy plan that was officially released Friday by Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry and vice-presidential candidate John Edwards was devoted to natural gas. Most of the proposal focused on crude oil, electricity, alternative fuels and coal.

Houston-based E&P operator Mariner Energy Inc. officially is no longer an Enron affiliate. The company completed a $271.1 million merger with an affiliate of the private equity funds Acon Investments LLC and Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund II. Mariner had been owned by Enron’s Joint Energy Development Investments LP (JEDI).