Settle

ProLiance Energy LLC, a natural gas market co-owned by Vectren Corp. and Citizens Gas and Coke Utility, has agreed to pay $21.6 million to settle a 2002 civil lawsuit arising from a contract dispute with Huntsville Utilities of Alabama.

After trading lower for the first half of the day Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, November natural gas futures rallied in the afternoon to settle at $7.241, up 10.9 cents on the day and a stunning $1.582 higher than the previous week’s close.

Proving that Tuesday’s settle near unchanged was more of a rest day than a meeting with resistance, November natural gas futures on Wednesday shot 36.5 cents higher to close at $6.807. Despite near-record levels of natural gas in storage, a new forecast calling for a colder-than-normal winter in the East could have been a contributing factor in the price jump Wednesday.

Dominion Resources Inc. has agreed to pay $4.25 million in civil penalties to settle charges that it reported false information on natural gas trades to published price indexes over a two-year period, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said last Wednesday.

Dominion Resources Inc. has agreed to pay $4.25 million in civil penalties to settle charges that it reported false information on natural gas trades to published price indexes over a two-year period, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Wednesday.

Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources said Friday it will pay $32 million to settle claims made in a class action lawsuit filed by John Steven Alford and Robert Larrabee related to alleged improper deductions from royalties on Hugoton Basin oil and gas production. The lawsuit was filed in the 26th Judicial District Court in Stevens County, KS.

Ending a half-decade of turmoil, El Paso Corp. announced Wednesday that it will pay about $48 million and its insurers will cover the remaining $242 million to settle multiple shareholder class action lawsuits and several other derivative lawsuits filed against the company between 2000 and 2004. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of shareholders because of the massive collapse of El Paso stock prices following allegations of wash trading, charges of California gas market manipulation and financial revisions that cut the company’s reserves by more than 41%.

El Paso Corp. on Friday agreed to pay $16.8 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit filed in August 2001 that claimed some of the El Paso’s officers and directors breached their fiduciary duties in managing the company’s California operations.

Enron Corp. on Friday said that it has reached agreements to settle all civil and contractual claims between the company, including certain of its subsidiaries, and three parties — FERC trial staff, the city of Santa Clara, CA, and Valley Electric Association Inc.