Seven

Seventy Seven Energy Inc., the onshore oilfield services business spun off from Chesapeake Energy Corp., said Tuesday it plans to restructure under a prepackaged voluntary bankruptcy protection plan to be filed in May after reaching agreement with lenders.

Boosted by its growing U.S. onshore business, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. reversed year-ago losses in the second quarter and reported production gains in most of its domestic plays.

The Kentucky Oil and Gas Association’s (KOGA) first comprehensive research of the economic impact of the oil and gas industry found that the state had 14,632 producing natural gas wells in 2011 and produced more than 3 million bbl of oil in 2012, but the number of horizontal well permits issued has declined each year since 2009.

Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. utility is only seven months into a five-year program, but when it finishes installing more than 6 million advanced meter devices for its vast array of residential and small business customers, the nation’s largest gas utility will have finished its largest capital expenditure ever.

The first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Angola LNG plant is on its way to Brazil on the SS Sonangol Sambizanga, one of seven 160,000-cubic meter LNG vessels contracted to the Angola LNG project, one of the largest energy projects on the African continent. Angola LNG is a partnership of Sonangol, Chevron Corp., BP plc, ENI and Total that will gather and process gas to produce and deliver LNG and natural gas liquids (NGL). “First gas at Angola LNG is an important milestone in support of our strategic plan to grow our production,” said George Kirkland, Chevron vice chairman. The $10 billion project will collect and transport gas from offshore Angola to an onshore liquefaction plant on the coast near the Congo River. The project has the capacity to produce 5.2 million metric tons per year of LNG, 63,000 b/d of NGL for export and 125 MMcf/d of natural gas for domestic consumption, Chevron said. “The project represents the first LNG project in Angola, and it is expected to contribute to the development of Angola’s natural gas industry,” said Ali Moshiri, president of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Co. Five and a half years ago it was expected that some supply from Angola LNG would land in the United States (see Daily GPI, Dec. 11, 2007).

Utility developers planning combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) projects in the Marcellus and Utica shales are looking for a “power price appreciation” from excess natural gas, not growing demand, to ensure a fair return on their investments, according to an analysis by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Inc. (TPH).

Natural gas has become the fuel of choice of power generators operating in the seven independent system operators (ISO) and regional transmission organizations (RTO) across the nation, and demand is expected to grow.

Natural gas has become the fuel of choice of power generators operating in the seven independent system operators (ISO) and regional transmission organizations (RTO) across the nation, and demand is expected to grow.

Gulfport Energy Corp. expects to increase the number operated horizontal rig count in the Utica Shale to seven from the current four by the end of June, and it has budgeted $494-504 million to drill 55-60 gross (49-54 net) wells in the play this year, company officials said Wednesday.