Senior

Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources Group Inc. senior executives on Thursday reiterated that they intend to exploit their home field advantage in all lines of their business by digging deeply into the Bakken Shale play’s continuing robust growth. And they talked bullishly about prospects this year despite reporting earnings that were down slightly quarter over quarter and year over year in 2011.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) lowered its corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) to “BB” from “BBB-” with a “stable” outlook and said the decision was based on compressed basis differentials leading to increased recontracting risk in the years ahead.

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.

Margaret N. Schneider has been tapped to be deputy director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), BSEE Director James A. Watson said. Schneider was senior advisor to the BSEE director and also assisted with policy reviews and managed special projects. Prior to working with BSEE, she spent 30 years in the Environmental Protection Agency. In her new post, Schneider will assist Watson with the enforcement of safety and environmental regulations governing the Outer Continental Shelf.

Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) has approved Enbridge Bakken Pipeline Co. Inc.’s plans to build the 77-mile Bakken Pipeline Project Canada, which would connect to the Enbridge Pipelines Inc. (EPI) Mainline and carry crude oil from the Bakken Shale to North American refinery markets.

For the first time since the recession hit in 2008, energy growth has been measured in Oregon, according to senior executives at Portland General Electric (PGE), who reported slightly reduced year/year earnings during a second quarter conference call with financial analysts last week. As a result, PGE’s latest plans call for increased natural gas-fired power generation — both peaking and baseload.

For the first time since the recession hit, energy growth has been measured in Oregon, according to senior executives at Portland General Electric (PGE), who reported slightly reduced year/year earnings during a second quarter conference call with financial analysts. As a result, PGE’s latest plans call for increased natural gas-fired power generation — both peaking and baseload.

The excessively wet hydroelectric season in the West continues to hurt Calpine Corp.’s large fleet of natural gas-fired generation plants, Calpine senior executives told financial analysts Friday during a second quarter earnings conference call in which the large independent power company reported losses for the second quarter.

If recently announced drilling programs are any indication, 2011 could be the biggest year to date for Utica Shale exploration.