Piece

Merrill Lynch announced plans last Monday to buy oil and gas industry bank Petrie Parkman & Co. and stake out a larger piece of the investment banking business in the exploration and production sector. Petrie Parkman, which employs 50 people in Denver, Houston and London, had planned an initial public offering of about $115 million. Terms of the Merrill Lynch deal weren’t disclosed.

Merrill Lynch announced plans Monday to buy oil and gas industry bank Petrie Parkman & Co. and stake out a larger piece of the investment banking business in the exploration and production sector. Petrie Parkman, which employs 50 people in Denver, Houston and London, had planned an initial public offering of about $115 million. Terms of the Merrill Lynch deal weren’t disclosed.

Another piece of the giant puzzle known as the Rockies Express Pipeline LLC Project is falling into place. Questar Corp.’s Overthrust Pipeline has filed an application at FERC seeking authorization to build a nearly 80-mile extension that would be the westernmost end of the Rockies Express project, a 1,663-mile, 42-inch diameter pipeline that would transport Rocky Mountain gas supplies to markets in the Midwest and East.

Making it another piece in its fall campaign to prepare the general public for steeply higher natural gas utility bills, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) last Friday wrapped up a series of public hearings and workshops around the state on a request by UniSource Energy’s UNS Gas, Inc. utility proposal to increase eightfold an existing purchased gas adjustor (PGA) surcharge to cover its higher cost of wholesale supplies.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is divesting “Phase 1” of its Canadian properties to a subsidiary of Calgary-based Advantage Energy Income Fund for $142 million. The package holds an estimated 9.9 MMboe of proved reserves and current net production of 4,500 boe/d (net after royalties).

In another asset sale in less than a week, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. on Tuesday announced an agreement to divest “Phase 1” of its Canadian properties to a subsidiary of Calgary-based Advantage Energy Income Fund for $142 million. The package holds an estimated 9.9 MMboe of proved reserves and current net production of 4,500 boe/d (net after royalties).

The state of New Mexico wants to get into the natural gas pipeline business and has its eyes set on Enron’s Transwestern Pipeline, but the bidding rules governing the bankruptcy court-directed auction for Enron’s assets apparently won’t allow the state to participate.

The state of New Mexico wants to get into the natural gas pipeline business, but the bidding rules governing the bankruptcy court-directed auction for Enron’s assets apparently won’t allow it.

With liquefied natural gas (LNG) expected to become a “key piece of the supply picture” in the United States, a Shell executive last Tuesday called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider adjusting quality specifications so that Btu-enriched regasified gas can substitute for conventional dry gas in the transportation system without causing “any appreciable change in burner performance or safety of product.”