Prospective

BG Group plc has fired another warning shot at its North American competition after exercising an option to acquire a bigger stake in a prospective natural gas development offshore Trinidad. BG’s offer preempts a $142.5 million cash offer by Centrica plc.

Range Resources Corp. spent most of 2008 picking up prospective acreage in the Marcellus Shale, and by year’s end it had doubled its leasehold to 900,000 net acres. Now the production phase is kicking in, and Range plans to build its natural gas output from a current net rate of 30 MMcf/d to up to 100 MMcf/d by the end of 2009, the CEO said Wednesday.

Range Resources Corp. spent most of last year picking up prospective acreage in the Marcellus Shale, and by year’s end it had doubled its leasehold to 900,000 net acres. Now the production phase is kicking in, and Range expects to build its natural gas output from a current net rate of 30 MMcf/d to up to 100 MMcf/d by the end of 2009, the CEO said Wednesday.

With its prospective liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal business well underway, even in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s core “philosophy of doing business” is now clearly illustrated by its proposed joint venture with Kinder Morgan to build a $3 billion, 1,500-mile natural gas pipeline from the Rockies into the upper Midwest and East, according to Neal Schmale, Sempra’s CFO, speaking Thursday at the Lehman Brothers energy conference in New York City.

Berry Petroleum Co. is paying about $5 million to gain a 50% working interest in 345,000 prospective acres in the Denver Basin of eastern Colorado, western Kansas and southwestern Nebraska from Bill Barrett Corp. The two companies plan to jointly explore and develop the shallow Niobrara gas assets on the acreage, which expands the program Berry started late last year in the area.

Berry Petroleum Co. is paying about $5 million to gain a 50% working interest in 345,000 prospective acres in the Denver Basin of eastern Colorado, western Kansas and southwestern Nebraska from Bill Barrett Corp. The two companies plan to jointly explore and develop the shallow Niobrara gas assets on the acreage, which expands the program Berry started late last year in the area.

A former El Paso Corp. energy trader and a ex-Dynegy Inc. trader will be tried separately early next year on charges of reporting bogus energy data to an industry publication. A Houston judge set the first trial for Jan. 12, with the second trial scheduled to immediately follow.

At the outset, the only clear understanding of California’s prospective two-phase 2004 restructuring of its natural gas market is that nothing is clear.

Prequalification credit-worthiness requirements for prospective replacement shippers in capacity release programs are “unworkable for many capacity release transactions, particularly short-term releases,” Reliant Energy Services said last week in rebutting a call by KeySpan Delivery Cos. for prequalification, including the posting of collateral by non-creditworthy shippers.