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More organic spending and fewer acquisitions are expected in the U.S. midstream energy sector next year, a Standard & Poor’s (S&P) analyst said Friday.

If the price of natural gas remains low or moves lower, development plans by U.S. oil and gas producers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal operators could take a hit, a Standard & Poor’s (S&P) credit analyst said Thursday.

While generally the investment-grade utilities and power companies represent a majority of the latest annual rankings from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, vertically integrated utilities for the most part get average or below-average ratings on a 1-to-10 scale for their respective business profiles. S&P released the listing last Friday, noting that within one of five industry sub-sectors, the companies were ranked by their relative corporate credit rating and outlook, then by their relative credit strength within the same rating and outlook profile.

Calling the recent pace of oil and gas producer merger activity “breathtaking,” Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) weighed in with the reasons for the robust deal activity.

Calling the recent pace of oil and gas producer merger activity “breathtaking,” Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) weighed in with the reasons for the robust deal activity.

While the U.S. oil and gas sector makes extensive use of derivatives to manage commodity price risk, and in some cases make a speculative buck, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) said producer hedging practices have little impact on corporate credit ratings. This is mainly due to the fact that most companies hedge production only as far out as two years or so, and the ratings agency takes a longer-term view when assessing credit.

While the U.S. oil and gas sector makes extensive use of derivatives to manage commodity price risk, and in some cases make a speculative buck, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) said producer hedging practices have little impact on corporate credit ratings. This is mainly due to the fact that most companies hedge production only as far out as two years or so, and the ratings agency takes a longer-term view when assessing credit.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) on Tuesday raised the long-term corporate credit rating on pipeline giant El Paso Corp. and its subsidiaries to “B+” from “B” following the progress the company has made to refocus its businesses. Its outlook is “positive.”

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services Monday affirmed a “BBB-” corporate credit rating for South Dakota-based Black Hills Corp, dropping a “CreditWatch with negative implications” designation. However, for the firm’s overall outlook, S&P set a “negative” designation.