Settled

Forming what one pro-environmental group called a “green dream team,” President-elect Barack Obama has settled on Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, who runs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California, to be secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) in his administration, and has selected experienced regulators to oversee three other offices dealing with energy, environmental and climate-change issues, Washington sources said. No formal announcement, however, had been issued last week.

In a deal exchanging disputed oil/gas properties for cash, Calpine Corp. late Wednesday said it had settled its remaining differences with Rosetta Resources Inc., its spinoff to which it sold the bulk of its oil and natural gas properties in the summer of 2005 (see Daily GPI, June 30, 2005). As part of the settlement, Calpine gets a $97 million payment and Rosetta obtains “certain residual oil and gas properties” and a 10-year supply pact from Calpine.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last Thursday filed and simultaneously settled charges against Sempra Energy Trading LLC for falsifying information on trading cards with respect to natural gas futures trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) and ordered Sempra to pay a $175,000 civil penalty.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Thursday filed and simultaneously settled charges against Sempra Energy Trading LLC for falsifying information on trading cards with respect to natural gas futures trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) and ordered Sempra to pay a $175,000 civil penalty.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has settled charges against Alvin Perez, a former New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) compliance department clerk, for disclosing nonpublic information to Nymex floor brokers.

Spot month natural gas futures settled unchanged, but more deferred contracts retreated in active trading Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Traders cited an interest by funds and managed accounts toward the sell side of the market, and in the longer term analysts suggested that if there were no major production-disrupting hurricanes this season, prices could fall more than another dollar.

In the first initial public offering (IPO) to debut this year, Williams Pipeline Partners LP showed modest gains Friday then settled at its opening price of $20/unit by the market’s close — considered a success in current market conditions.

In the first initial public offering (IPO) to debut this year, Williams Pipeline Partners LP showed modest gains Friday then settled at its opening price of $20/unit by the market’s close — considered a success in current market conditions.

January natural gas futures settled lower for a sixth consecutive regular session on Tuesday as isolated near-term cold would appear to be no match for warmer-than-normal winter temperature forecasts, more than comfortable natural gas storage levels and significant weakness in neighboring crude futures. January natural gas reached a low of $7.080 before closing Tuesday at $7.155, down 5.9 cents from Monday.