Pushing

Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams is pushing for legislation to give an investment tax credit to oil and gas operators that drill exploratory wells in the state. Williams, speaking to the Texas Energy Planning Council last week, said the credit would accelerate exploratory drilling and combat the state’s production decline rates.

Natural gas is part of a “four-horse race” in which all four will finish together, if state energy officials are facile enough to bring gas, renewables, energy efficiency and liquefied natural gas (LNG) under the wire simultaneously, a state natural gas expert told an industry audience in Denver last week.

The following substitutes for and corrects a report run in Daily GPI, May 21

Wednesday’s screen spike obviously trumped somewhat bland weather fundamentals in pushing cash prices strongly higher Thursday. However, a combination of reversals in Nymex’s energy futures complex Thursday and the typical drop in weekend industrial load is a sure bet to spur market softness Friday, several sources agreed.

Charging the Bush administration with pushing federal actions that favor a large political contributor, environmental groups have attacked the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) plan to open up a two counties, Otero and Sierra, in southern New Mexico to oil and gas drilling.

Charging the Bush administration with pushing federal actions that favor a large political contributor, environmental groups have attacked the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) plan to open up a two counties, Otero and Sierra, in southern New Mexico to oil and gas drilling.

Acquisitions are pushing Chesapeake Energy Corp. up near the top of the charts in terms of domestic gas production and reserves. The company recently completed three major property acquisitions totaling about $510 million and bringing its gas reserves to more than 3.4 Tcf and its production to an expected 875 MMcf/d in the first quarter and 890 MMcf/d for the year, making it one of the top 15 largest gas producers in North America in terms of daily production.

Acquisitions are pushing Chesapeake Energy Corp. up near the top of the charts in terms of domestic gas production and reserves. The company recently completed three major property acquisitions totaling about $510 million and bringing its gas reserves to more than 3.4 Tcf and its production to an expected 875 MMcf/d in the first quarter and 890 MMcf/d for the year, making it one of the top 15 largest gas producers in North America in terms of daily production.

California’s Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who has been pushing various civil and criminal actions related to the state’s 2000-2001 energy crisis, tossed a grenade into the proposed settlement between Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and state regulatory commission staff on Tuesday as alternate decisions on the case were being released by the California Public Utilities Commission.