Rockies

In one of the energy sector’s biggest initial public offerings (IPOs) this year, Bill Barrett Corp., the three-year-old Denver-based exploration and production (E&P) company, is expected to raise more than $300 million to develop an area its savvy executive team knows well: the Rocky Mountains.

In one of the energy sector’s biggest initial public offerings (IPOs) this year, Bill Barrett Corp., the three-year-old Denver-based exploration and production (E&P) company, is expected to raise more than $300 million to develop an area its savvy executive team knows well: the Rocky Mountains.

Increasing Piceance Basin production in Colorado and new takeaway capacity out of the Rockies to Midwestern markets have prompted TransColorado Gas Transmission to test market interest in a 300,000 Dth/d expansion of its system.

Increasing Piceance Basin production in Colorado and new takeaway capacity out of the Rockies to Midwestern markets have prompted TransColorado Gas Transmission to test market interest in a 300,000 Dth/d expansion of its system.

Newfield Exploration Co. has established a new Rocky Mountain focus with the completion of its $574 million acquisition of Inland Resources, a privately held Denver-based producer. The transaction gives Newfield an internally estimated 326 Bcfe of proved reserves and 439 Bcfe of probable reserves.

Wyoming once again can lay claim to the title of largest natural gas producer in the Rocky Mountains after setting a new production record in 2003. The state’s gas output exceeded 1.85 Tcf last year, up 4.3% over the 1.76 Tcf set a year earlier, propelled by the growing number of coalbed methane (CBM) wells.

Wyoming once again can lay claim to the title of largest natural gas producer in the Rocky Mountains after setting a new production record in 2003. The state’s gas output exceeded 1.85 Tcf last year, up 4.3% over the 1.76 Tcf set a year earlier, propelled by the growing number of coalbed methane (CBM) wells.

Consumer ire and political juices are flowing in Montana and Colorado, two northern Rockies states in which out-of-state interests own the major private-sector utilities, and all is not well in land of big skies and snow-capped peaks. Public power plays are being pursued in Montana as South Dakota-based NorthWestern assures that it will be out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a year’s time, and Colorado consumers want Minnesota-based Xcel Energy, its utility holding company, to have a third-party audit of its operations in the state.

While it appears the Southeast is likely to come out of its freeze shortly, New England, the Northern Rockies and Plains are expected to remain cold for the foreseeable future, according to Billerica, MA-based WSI Corp.’s latest seasonal outlook, which covers the February to April period.