Party

Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. Wednesday completed its $24.1 million acquisition of third party ownership interests and leases associated with the property it had acquired last March from Koch Exploration Co. in Colorado’s Piceance Basin. For the rest of this year, the company’s CEO said it will focus on increasing production from existing wells, holding off drilling new wells until next year.

Last December U.S. gas markets were throwing a party, but the international guests failed to arrive. The January Nymex natural gas futures contract set an all-time record for a prompt-month settle at $15.378, but still it wasn’t enough to entice liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to the Gulf of Mexico.

Last December U.S. gas markets were throwing a party, but the international guests failed to arrive. The January Nymex natural gas futures contract set an all-time record for a prompt-month settle at $15.378, but still it wasn’t enough to entice liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to the Gulf of Mexico.

Northwest declared a Stage II (8% imbalance tolerance) Unauthorized Overrun Entitlement for all Receiving Party customers located north of the Kemmerer (WY) Compressor Station, effective Friday until further notice. Northwest said it declared the entitlement “in an effort to maintain its Jackson Prairie storage balance during the extremely cold weather forecast for the Pacific Northwest over the next few days.” In addition to urging customers to stay in balance, Northwest also asked customers who owe gas to the pipeline north of Kemmerer to arrange paybacks as soon as possible.

The ex-chief of Enron Corp.’s broadband unit said Tuesday former CEO Jeffrey Skilling approved related-party transactions put together by then-CFO Andrew Fastow to help the poorly performing unit boost its booked revenue.

Sea Robin issued an OFO, effective at the start of Wednesday’s gas day, for all offshore receipt points. As previously posted, Sea Robin said, it has been notified by the third-party operator of the onshore processing plant on its system that onshore dehydration and processing is not available until damage suffered as a result of Hurricane Rita is repaired. “As a result of imbalances that currently exist, as well as those that continue to build…, pipeline pressures have increased to extreme levels” that required the OFO, Sea Robin said. The OFO will remain in effect until high-pressure conditions return to a normal operating range, it added.

Oil and natural gas operators in Texas may now obtain their drilling permits online, according to the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC). For the first time, third-party filers and consultants — which file nearly half of the drilling applications processed by the RRC — will be able to directly access and use the electronic application. Operators also may file expedited permits online and use a credit card to pay the drilling permit fee. The RRC will continue to accept mailed or drilling applications in person. The number of drilling permits required before an operator may drill a well varies with the price of oil and gas. An average of 1,360 drilling permits were filed in the first three months of this year. For more information about filing drilling permit applications online, visit the RRC website, contact the RRC’s Oil and Gas Division at (512) 463-6751 or send an email: drillingpermits-info@rrc.state.tx.us.

Swift Energy said service from a third-party natural gas sales pipeline downstream of its Lake Washington Field has been restored, and the company’s crude oil and natural gas production from Lake Washington is returning to the levels of daily production prior to the pipeline shutdown, which was reported March 18. As a result of the reduced production levels due to the damaged pipeline, earlier this month Swift lowered its guidance for domestic production in the first quarter of 2005 to 10.8-11.0 Bcfe from 11-11.5 Bcfe. Net production from Lake Washington for the fourth quarter of 2004 almost doubled compared to the same period in 2003, averaging 12,900 net boe/d compared to 6,900 net boe/d for the same period in 2003. The field produced about 23.2 Bcfe last year, more than double the 2003 volumes. It is Swift’s largest field. Swift’s total domestic production for 2004 increased to 42.1 Bcfe or by 25% compared to 2003.

Devon Energy Corp., the largest U.S.-based independent producer, Thursday reported a 13% increase in quarterly net income and a 43% increase in total daily oil, natural gas and gas liquids production. The large production increase was mainly a result of Devon’s Ocean Energy merger last year. Excluding the impact of the merger Devon’s production still climbed 7% over 1Q2003.