Sheet

Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. last year cut debt by $750 million, stabilized its balance sheet and is now focused on two core areas: the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region, said CEO Hal Kvisle.

A team of scientists, engineers and educators from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) has been charged by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to explore ways that maximize the benefits of natural gas development while minimizing potential negative effects.

Spain’s Repsol could opt to sell its 75% stake in the Canaport LNG terminal in Saint John, NB, as part of a plan to refocus operations and streamline its balance sheet, the company confirmed.

A new investor presentation posted early Tuesday by Chesapeake Energy Corp. included a full-page statement by the company with the headline, “It’s been a tough five weeks, but better days ahead.” By Tuesday afternoon, the statement, originally the second page of the 32-page presentation, had been deleted with no explanation by the company.

While it is currently straining its balance sheet to accelerate infrastructure buildout, Clean Energy Fuels Corp. likes its strategic positioning to take advantage of what it considers now widespread acceptance of natural gas as the alternative fuel of choice for large trucks and a new national network of fueling stations it expects to be in place by next year, CEO Andrew Littlefair told financial analysts on an earnings call reporting more red ink for the Seal Beach, CA-based firm.

Youngstown, OH, long a Rust Belt poster child, now is watching the phoenix-like revival of its flagship steel plant, Youngstown Iron Sheet & Tube, thanks to the Utica and Marcellus shales. The 100-year old plant, once one of largest in the world before it foundered in the 1970s collapse of the nation’s steel industry, will be making steel pipe to serve the state’s burgeoning shale gas and oil development.

Youngstown, OH, long a Rust Belt poster child, now is watching the phoenix-like revival of its flagship steel plant, Youngstown Iron Sheet & Tube, thanks to the Utica and Marcellus shales. The 100-year old plant, once one of largest in the world before it foundered in the 1970s collapse of the nation’s steel industry, will be making steel pipe to serve the state’s burgeoning shale gas and oil development.

SM Energy Co. has agreed to sell its Marcellus Shale assets in Pennsylvania, including its entire 42,000-acre leasehold and associated pipeline assets in McKean and Potter counties, to a subsidiary of Houston-based Endeavour International Corp. for approximately $80 million, the companies said Monday.

As part of its plan to reduce debt and strengthen its balance sheet, CMS Enterprises announced Wednesday that it has completed the previously announced sale of a portfolio of its businesses in Argentina and its northern Michigan nonutility natural gas assets for about $130 million (see Daily GPI, Feb. 5). The principal subsidiary of CMS Energy sold its interests in those businesses to Michigan-based Lucid Energy. The Argentina businesses sold by CMS Enterprises were the CT Mendoza and Ensenada generating plants and the TGM natural gas pipeline business. The sale of Argentine businesses originally was to include the CMS Enterprises interest in Hidroelectrica El Chocon SA. However, the CMS Enterprises 17.2% interest in El Chocon was sold last week to Endesa under a separate arrangement after Endesa exercised a right of first offer for $50 million. The total proceeds from the two transactions — the sale to Lucid Energy announced today and the sale of the El Chocon interest announced Friday — are $180 million. In Michigan, the sale to Lucid Energy includes CMS Enterprises’ natural gas pipelines and processing assets, the Antrim natural gas processing plant, 155 miles of associated gathering lines and interests in three special purpose gas transmission pipelines that total 110 miles. As a result of the sales to Endesa and Lucid Energy, CMS Energy expects to recognize an after-tax, noncash loss of approximately $160 million in the first quarter of 2007. CMS Enterprises said it will maintain its interest in the TGN natural gas business in Argentina, which remains subject to a potential sale to the government of Argentina or some other disposition. Regarding CMS Enterprises’ commitment to sell its 23.5% interest in TGN, CMS Energy said it expects to record an after-tax impairment charge of approximately $140 million in the first quarter of 2007 to reflect the fair value of its TGN ownership interest.