Producer

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) and Martin Midstream Partners LP have formed joint venture (JV) Pecos Valley Producer Services LLC to develop a multi-commodity rail terminal in Pecos, TX, to serve oil and gas producers in the Permian Basin of West Texas.

U.S. resource plays that are spewing out natural gas and oil have virtually cleared producer calendars of speculative drilling and made for an energy supply bounty that is becoming the envy of numerous companies around the world, speakers at a Houston energy conference said.

Citing conflicting words and actions by President Obama on natural gas, a chief economist for a major producer group Wednesday urged Congress to put a stop to what he claims is the administration’s attempt to overregulate hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and oil and natural gas production.

Mike Graham, president of Encana Corp.’s Canadian Division, has resigned from the company. Encana, the largest natural gas producer in Canada, did not disclose the reasons. Mike McAllister, who is senior vice president of the Canadian Division, was tapped to take over. Graham has run Encana’s entire Canadian operations since 2007, which has resource play assets in British Columbia, Alberta and Atlantic Canada. Graham joined one of Encana’s predecessor companies in 1986 and held various positions in operations and engineering before moving to the reservoir engineering group. He helped to develop Encana’s Suffield and Primrose interests, as well as the AECO natural gas storage facility. Graham also led the company’s entry into the Deep Basin of Alberta and northeastern British Columbia.

ExxonMobil Corp., the largest natural gas producer in North America, is well aware of the economics in drilling U.S. and Canadian dry natural gas wells today. But it has no plans now to shut in any gas wells, the investor relations chief said last week.

ExxonMobil Corp., the largest natural gas producer in North America, is well aware of the economics in drilling U.S. and Canadian dry natural gas wells today. But it has no plans now to shut in any gas wells, the investor relations chief said Tuesday.

A Rockies producer had a pithy description of the current gas market: “It stinks!” Industrial firms that use gas as a feedstock and almost everyone enjoying lower gas bills might disagree, but it’s likely that many others in the gas industry also would prefer a sweeter-smelling market.

Sydney, Australia-based producer Buccaneer Energy Ltd. has signed a contract to supply natural gas to ConocoPhillips’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, about 10 miles northwest of Buccaneer’s 100% owned Kenai Loop project. The deal gives Buccaneer the flexibility to flow gas from its Cook Inlet drilling while it awaits the completion of a nearby gas storage facility.

BP plc said last week it would appeal after federal officials slapped the producer with two additional charges involving five incidents of noncompliance (INC) related to the April 2010 Macondo well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM).