Periods

Hess Corp. won’t sell its unconventional assets in the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Utica shale plays, but it is looking at proposals from a hedge fund that wants a larger stake in the company, Hess officials said during a 4Q2012 earnings call on Wednesday.

Following two home explosions in a rural area of northwest Pennsylvania within three months of each other, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) Monday called for federal help to protect the public from risks associated with the development of shale gas in the Marcellus and Utica plays.

California’s wholesale electricity situation looks good for this summer’s peak-demand periods, but in the longer term the state’s aggressive push to get more renewable resource-based power continues to worry the head of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), Yakout Mansour. The CAISO CEO held a conference call with reporters last Monday to mark the release of the grid operator’s annual market performance report, a newly approved five-year strategy and CAISO’s 10th anniversary of operations.

Beginning another transition into the on-again, off-again periods of frigid conditions that have dominated February’s weather pattern, cash prices saw strong double-digit gains at all points Monday. The previous Friday’s 25.5-cent advance by March futures also was supportive, and the return of industrial load from weekend hiatus gave a little extra boost to the physical market.

BP plc Chairman Peter Sutherland acknowledged Thursday that the past couple of years have been “one of the most varied and probably turbulent [periods] in the company’s history, but he said the London-based producer will continue to take risks as it moves forward.

MDU Resources Group Inc. has agreed to acquire Cascade Natural Gas Corp. for $26.50/share cash, about $475 million. The combination will double the number of MDU’s gas utility customers with the addition of Cascade’s Washington and Oregon ratepayers.

The industry has to find a solution soon to the problem of drilling rigs being torn from their moorings and set adrift in the Gulf of Mexico during hurricanes. A football field-sized structure careening through the Gulf can cause billions of dollars in damage to production platforms and subsea pipelines, Doug Krenz, vice president of transportation for Enbridge, said in an interview with NGI last week.

Reversing red ink in the same two periods in 2003, Sierra Pacific Resources Monday reported a return to profitability for both the fourth quarter and full year last year. Fourth quarter earnings were $27.3 million, or 15 cents/share, compared with a consolidated loss of $19.8 million, or 17 cents/share, for the same period in 2003, and for all of 2004, the company reported net income of $28.6 million, or 16 cents/share, compared with a loss of $140.5 million, or $1.21/share, for the overall prior year.

Led by an 18% increase in nonregulated gas, oil and natural gas liquids production, a 14% rise in realized natural gas prices, and an 18% increase in nonregulated gas gathering volumes, Questar Corp. posted 2Q2004 net income of $42.6 million, or $0.50 per diluted share, compared with $20.3 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, in the comparable 2003 period.