Sighed

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. sighed a breath of relief Monday after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld a Lake Charles, LA, federal court’s 2007 decision that the company did not have to pay the U.S. Government millions of dollars in royalties on eight oil and natural gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

While U.S. energy interests in the Gulf of Mexico and on the coast sighed a collective breath of relief Tuesday, their counterparts in Mexico were not as lucky as Category 5 Hurricane Dean slammed the Yucatan Peninsula and threatened the country’s offshore energy infrastructure. Even though the U.S. dodged this bullet, some forecasters warned there were likely a number of other storms to come in the next few months.

Just days after the natural gas industry sighed in relief after Hurricane Ophelia chose the Atlantic path instead of the Gulf of Mexico course, Tropical Storm Rita looks as if she might not be as accommodating. Fears over the storm’s projected Gulf path sent futures off to the races in Access trading Sunday night and again on Monday, with October natural gas settling $1.519 higher at $12.663, a new all-time prompt month record.