Pull

Murphy Oil Corp., which announced it would pull out of Western Canada to concentrate on more deepwater development, on Tuesday announced its capital expenditures will be 15% less than in 2003. Nearly 77% of the $843 million budget will be allocated to the upstream.

FERC’s decision last week to set for hearing a proposal by Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. (OG&E) to purchase a majority stake in a power plant from an affiliate of NRG Energy “in no way concludes our efforts to pursue this acquisition and the savings that it will deliver to our customers,” OGE Energy’s chairman said.

Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LLC notified FERC last Wednesday that it will withdraw its application to double the capacity of its system in New England in light of the fact that Canadian regulatory review of an upstream supply project that was to anchor the pipe expansion — EnCana Energy Services Inc.’s Deep Panuke natural gas development project offshore Nova Scotia — has been discontinued indefinitely.

Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LLC notified FERC Wednesday that it plans to withdraw its application to add 385 MDth/d of capacity to its system in New England in light of the fact that Canadian regulatory review of an upstream supply project — EnCana Energy Services Inc.’s Deep Panuke natural gas development project offshore Nova Scotia — has been discontinued indefinitely.

Projecting natural gas wellhead prices, and basically anything else concerning natural gas, hasn’t been easy for the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In fact, forecasting consumption, production and prices for just about any other energy commodity has been easier.

Projecting natural gas wellhead prices, and basically anything else concerning natural gas, hasn’t been easy for the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In fact, forecasting consumption, production and prices for just about any other energy commodity has been easier.

El Paso Corp. continues to play push-me pull-you as it works out a long-term plan to get debt levels in check without starving its remaining core businesses. CEO Doug Foshee stressed that the company should meet its divestiture target of $3.4 billion by the end of this year, but going forward, “we won’t be able to sell our way to prosperity. We have to grow our core businesses.”

Both North American majors and independents reported strong earnings Wednesday in a barrage of quarterly financial reports, but production results continued to be mixed. ConocoPhillips blamed seasonal declines, asset sales and scheduled maintenance for its production shortfall, and it was the same story at Amerada Hess Corp. and Kerr-McGee Corp. Of those reporting, only Noble Energy Corp. reported production gains — up 4% over a year ago.

Under significant downward pressure from the weak crude oil market and continued spring weather, April futures opened 24.7 cents lower Tuesday and more than wiped out the two previous daily gains with a solid 16.8-cent drop to close the day at $5.339.