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A year-old, privately held California micro exploration and production (E&P) company founded by former senior executives from a predecessor Chevron Corp. company (Texaco), Pacific Energy Development Corp. (PEDCO), plans to merge with publicly held Houston-based energy services firm Blast Energy Services to form a new publicly held company headed by PEDCO CEO Frank Ingriselli.

China’s largest producer, Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp., is grabbing access to Canada’s unconventional plays in northeastern British Columbia and the Deep Basin of Alberta through a C$2.2 billion cash deal with Calgary’s Daylight Energy Ltd.

Three of Japan’s largest utilities have joined a Mitsubishi Corp.-led consortium to partner in Penn West Exploration’s shale gas project in northeastern British Columbia (BC).

Market conditions have been shaping up to deliver weak natural gas prices in the first quarter, which could represent a buying opportunity for utilities and commercial/industrial users, one equity exploration and production (E&P) analyst told NGI. However, prices could very well strengthen later in the year as Canadian exports to the United States decline and U.S. producers “tap on the brakes” when it comes to spending.

While generally the investment-grade utilities and power companies represent a majority of the latest annual rankings from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, vertically integrated utilities for the most part get average or below-average ratings on a 1-to-10 scale for their respective business profiles. S&P released the listing last Friday, noting that within one of five industry sub-sectors, the companies were ranked by their relative corporate credit rating and outlook, then by their relative credit strength within the same rating and outlook profile.

The New England Gas Association (NEGA) and the New York Gas Group (NYGAS) merged last week to become the Northeast Gas Association (NGA), which will represent the local distribution companies, interstate pipeline companies, LNG importers, and associate companies involved in supporting the natural gas industry in the seven-state region of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The New England Gas Association (NEGA) and the New York Gas Group (NYGAS) will merge to become the Northeast Gas Association (NGA), effective Jan. 1, 2003. The new organization will represent the local distribution companies, interstate pipeline companies, LNG importers, and associate companies involved in supporting the natural gas industry in the seven-state region of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Craig Frew, NEGA chairman, and Ralph Tedesco, chairman of the NYGAS Executive Committee announced the merger Tedesco, President and COO of New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG), will be the first chairman of NGA. Dennis E. Welch, President and COO of Yankee Gas Services Company, will be the vice chairman. Thomas M. Kiley, who has served as President of NEGA and Acting Executive Director of NYGAS, will be President of NGA. NEGA and NYGAS first entered into an alliance in 2001, when they combined several administrative and management functions. The formation of the NGA is consistent with the increasing consolidation of the natural gas industry in the Northeast. The NGA will be administered at 75 Second Avenue, Suite 510, Needham, MA 02494, telephone: (781) 455-6800. A New York office will be located at 1515 Broadway, 43rd floor, New York, NY 10036, telephone: (212) 354-4790.

The names — “Fat Boy,” “Death Star” — may sound ominous, but the strategies they represent actually served to arbitrage the California market, lending it equilibrium and efficiency, according to an economist with the global consulting firm NERA (National Economic Research Associates) in a paper released earlier this month.