Pursue

ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva said it’s unlikely the company will pursue any significant acquisitions or consider any merger opportunities for the foreseeable future.

ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva said it’s unlikely the company will pursue any significant acquisitions or consider any merger opportunities for the foreseeable future.

A set of private investors has formed a Vancouver, WA-based company to pursue a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal at the mouth of the Columbia River on the Oregon side near Warrenton. Oregon LNG last January obtained the management and development rights for Chapter 11-bound Calpine Corp.’s Skipanon project.

Congress doesn’t usually pursue new energy legislation unless the industry or its markets is in the throes of some sort of crisis. This legislative season is perhaps a little different, unless, of course, one considers Democratic control of both houses to be a crisis as well.

Congress doesn’t usually pursue new energy legislation unless the industry or its markets is in the throes of some sort of crisis. This legislative season is perhaps a little different, unless, of course, one considers the advent of Democratic control of both houses to be a crisis as well.

ExxonMobil Corp. and several other producers have less than 30 days to pursue their legal options following Alaska’s decision this week to revoke some decades-old leases in the North Slope’s Point Thomson field. Barring a lawsuit, the natural gas-rich acreage could be opened to newcomers in a state lease sale scheduled for October 2007.

The decision last week by New Orleans-based Energy Partners Ltd. (EPL) to terminate its agreement to buy Stone Energy Corp. will allow the company to pursue other alternatives, including a sale. But EPL’s most likely buyer, Australia’s Woodside Petroleum Ltd., hasn’t put enough money on the table, EPL told shareholders last week. Stone, meanwhile, is expected to continue to look for a buyer.

High commodity prices and an active market for assets have prompted Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP) to pursue the divestiture of nonstrategic oil and gas properties, mainly in California and Texas, the company said Wednesday. Separately, Midland, TX-based independent Saber Resources LLC hired Energy Spectrum Advisors Inc. (ESA) to divest all of its oil and gas interests in the Permian Basin, which are about 90% oil producing.

Energen Corp. said it’s exploration and production subsidiary, Energen Resources, has leased 140,000 acres in the Black Warrior Basin and will pursue exploration and development of natural gas from several shale formations across north-central Alabama.