Raised

Pacific Gas & Electric did not extend a systemwide high-inventory OFO beyond Saturday.

The Montana/Dakotas Bureau of Land Management (BLM) leased 49 parcels in Montana and North Dakota in a quarterly auction that raised more than $3.1 million on 28,834 acres of federal land. Sixteen parcels on about 17,100 acres were leased in Montana; in North Dakota, 33 parcels were leased on about 11,600 acres. Montana BLM spokesman Greg Albright told NGI that proceeds from the auction were the highest of any auction held by the regional BLM office this year. He said the sale did include six parcels in Carbon County, MT, that were being protested by conservation groups, including Trout Unlimited, over the potential negative effects of energy drilling on trout stocks in the Bighorn River. The BLM in July said it deferred leasing 73,600 acres of sage grouse winter habitat in Garfield, McCone and Carbon counties in Montana that had originally been scheduled for the sale (see Daily GPI, July 23).

Fort Worth’s XTO Energy Corp. Tuesday raised its production growth forecast for the rest of 2007 by 2% to 17% after reporting record natural gas output in the second quarter.

Canada’s northern pipeline sponsors did not answer the big question raised by the project’s recent mammoth cost increase, but they earlier disclosed where to look for clues. Can the Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) be built for its new price tag of C$16.2 billion (US$13.7 billion)?

Canada’s northern pipeline sponsors did not answer the big question raised by the project’s recent mammoth cost increase, but they earlier disclosed where to look for clues. Can the Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) be built for its new price tag of C$16.2 billion (US$13.7 billion)?

Royal Dutch Shell plc last Tuesday reached an agreement with Shell Canada’s board and raised its bid for all of Shell Canada’s outstanding shares to C$45/share from C$40, which represents a value of about $8.7 billion.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its Short-Term Energy Outlook for November has raised its projections for average spot natural gas prices this year and next now that the winter heating season has officially gotten under way and industry has begun to draw down the bulging storage levels that have helped to depress prices over the past couple of months.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its Short-Term Energy Outlook for November has raised its projections for average spot natural gas prices this year and next now that the winter heating season has officially gotten under way and industry begins to draw down the bulging storage levels that have helped to depress prices over the past couple of months.

Chevron Corp. raised its 2007 capital and exploratory budget by 20%, with a “significant component” of the money directed toward deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) projects. The $19.6 billion budget, up from $16 billion in 2006, includes about $4 billion for U.S. upstream projects. Another $1.6 billion will be spent on U.S. downstream projects.