Proceeds

The natural gas industry has urged FERC to tread cautiously as it proceeds to repeal market behavior rules that were adopted in the wake of the California energy crisis and replace them with proposed broader anti-manipulation regulations.

Continuing its rapid accumulation of producing properties, Chesapeake Energy on Tuesday announced it had paid $425 million for privately-held Greystone Petroleum LLC, which owns 214 Bcfe of proved reserves and 16,100 gross acres of leasehold in the Sligo Field in Bossier Parish, LA. The field has produced 1.6 Tcfe of gas.

Continuing its rapid accumulation of producing properties, Chesapeake Energy on Tuesday announced it had paid $425 million for privately-held Greystone Petroleum LLC, which owns 214 Bcfe of proved reserves and 16,100 gross acres of leasehold in the Sligo Field in Bossier Parish, LA. The field has produced 1.6 Tcfe of gas.

After selling $2.1 billion in assets in 2003 with proceeds of $850 million, CMS posted a net loss of $44 million (30 cents/share) for the year compared to a negative $650 million ($4.68/share) in 2002. The company reported net income of $8 million in the fourth quarter compared to a net loss of $44 million in 4Q2002.

CMS Energy said it would use the proceeds from the sale of its Marysville Gas Liquids subsidiary to reduce debt. The Jacksonville, MI company said Thursday it had sold the terminal to Marysville Hydrocarbons Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

Dynegy Inc. said it would use the net proceeds from the sale of an additional $50 million of debentures on Tuesday to repay a portion of its $244 million Term B loan outstanding under its restructured credit facilities. Dynegy recently completed the private placement of $175 million of its 4.75% convertible subordinated notes due in 2023, and the initial purchasers of the debentures exercised their option to purchase the additional debentures on the same terms.

Williams Friday announced agreements involving the sale of assets for cash proceeds in excess of $100 million. In its midstream business, Williams has completed the first sale involving a portion of its operations in Western Canada. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has purchased Williams’ West Stoddart natural gas processing plant for an undisclosed amount. The West Stoddart plant is located roughly 50 kilometers northwest of Fort St. John, British Columbia, and has a processing capacity of 120 MMcf/d.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will issue a final report on the results of its high-profile investigation into manipulation of energy prices in western markets either by the end of the year or in mid-February 2003 at the latest, Chairman Pat Wood told energy executives Wednesday.

Anxious Houston-based employees Friday were waiting for formal news that their employer, Enron Corp., had filed for bankruptcy, expected to be the largest in U.S. history, and also to learn whether layoffs will begin in the United States as they have in Europe. Across the country, others kept an eye on whether Enron would file a lawsuit against its short-term merger partner Dynegy Corp. for backing out of the transaction last week. Meanwhile, companies that had once dealt with the former trend-setting energy trader continued tallying their own expected losses should Enron go under, and analysts began looking at the pieces, attempting to comprehend and explain a situation gone terribly wrong.