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A unit of banking giant Morgan Stanley said Thursday it is taking full ownership in Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline, the primary natural gas transmission and natural gas storage facility provider for several of the biggest cities and power generation providers in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Shale and liquids-rich production will be the primary focus for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. this year, with dry natural gas efforts receiving less than 10% of its 2012 exploration and production budget, the Houston-based company said Tuesday.

Compressed natural gas offers the best opportunity for a majority of the nation’s drivers to be weaned off of gasoline as their primary transportation fuel, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a House subcommittee last week.

Compressed natural gas offers the best opportunity for a majority of the nation’s drivers to be weaned off of gasoline as their primary transportation fuel, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a House subcommittee Tuesday.

Thirty-two of the dry natural gas rigs operated by Nabors Industries Ltd. in the Haynesville Shale have been redeployed to liquids areas “and we expect more of the remaining 26 to be diverted” soon, CEO Tony Petrello said late Tuesday.

Southern California Gas set a positive imbalance tolerance of 10% in issuing a high-linepack OFO for Saturday.

Pennsylvania lawmakers approached Halloween hoping to bring drilling impact fee legislation to the Senate floor before the end of October, but after failing to resolve major issues over the weekend they now hope to pass a bill before Thanksgiving.

The oil and natural gas industries have been the primary beneficiaries of more than $800 billion in federal energy incentives over the past six decades, according to an updated study by a Washington, DC-based research and consulting firm. Attempts to strip the industry of these incentives have been blocked in the past couple of years, but they are particularly vulnerable now as the government seeks to make deep cuts in the federal deficit.

Members of a key advisory panel in New York that would someday govern hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state say they won’t meet their Nov. 1 deadline because they need more time to gather critical information and budget requests from state agencies.