Reduce

With federal approval to reduce well spacing in Wyoming’s Jonah field to 10 acres from 40 acres, an EnCana Corp. executive said the Calgary-based producer plans to significantly boost its natural gas volumes there.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is trying to elicit support from fellow senators to get the Bush White House to reinstate the funding for oil and natural gas research and development (R&D) that it proposes to cut as part of its forthcoming budget request for fiscal year 2006.

Dynegy Inc. said Monday that a makeover of its Monument Natural Gas Field Processing Facility in New Mexico is expected to result in $1.4 million in annual cost savings and a 66% reduction every year in nitrogen oxide emissions. The Monument facility has a processing capacity of 85 MMcf/d.

The planned merger by Enterprise Products Partners LP with GulfTerra Energy Partners LP has the potential to reduce exposure to petrochemical industry cycles and to realize cost savings, but the merged company will have to demonstrate its prowess before changes are reflected in the credit rating, a Standard & Poor’s Rating Services (S&P) analyst said Tuesday after dropping Enterprise’s rating to “junk” status.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group announced over the weekend it will trim jobs in Nigeria as it reevaluates its oil and gas reserves there. The British press also reported Monday that shareholders are pressuring the energy giant to hire outside executives to help move the company forward.

CMS Energy said it would use the proceeds from the sale of its Marysville Gas Liquids subsidiary to reduce debt. The Jacksonville, MI company said Thursday it had sold the terminal to Marysville Hydrocarbons Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

Compressor failure has cut Fidlar Station capacity to 90,000-100,000 Dth/d until Nov. 21 or further notice, Questar said. Shippers may reduce adverse scheduling impact by using the TransColorado delivery point, it added.

NSTAR Gas filed Tuesday with the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (MDTE) a request to reduce the Cost of Gas Adjustment (CGA) to 81.80 cents per therm from the current price of 89.36 cents per therm.

London-based BP plc plans to cut about 1,000 jobs from its Lower 48 operations, after announcing last week that its fourth quarter earnings will be below forecasts. Apparently, no more jobs will be eliminated from the extensive Alaska operations, which were cut 20% last year.