Spending

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) got a $14 million hike in its budget for fiscal year (FY) 2008 in the omnibus spending bill that President Bush signed into law Wednesday.

States stand to lose an estimated $42.5 million in oil and natural gas revenues in 2008 as a result of a provision in an omnibus spending bill President Bush signed Wednesday that gives the federal government a greater share of royalties, a spokesman for the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) said Thursday.

Upstream capital spending is pegged to jump a healthy 20% this year versus 2006. However, with most of the money earmarked for international oil projects, North American exploration and production (E&P) companies weighted to natural gas are not expected to deliver over-the-top earnings through the rest of the year, according to several energy analysts.

Upstream capital spending is pegged to jump a healthy 20% this year versus 2006. However, with most of the money earmarked for international oil projects, North American exploration and production (E&P) companies weighted to natural gas are not expected to deliver over-the-top earnings through the rest of the year, according to several energy analysts.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers last Thursday called on an appropriations subcommittee chairman to insert language in the fiscal year 2008 spending bill that would bar the Department of Energy (DOE) from using federal funds to designate two National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC) in the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions of the country.

Linn Energy LLC is spending $454 million in separate transactions to acquire a leasehold in the Texas Panhandle and to enrich its natural gas-heavy assets in the Appalachian Basin. The acquisitions together increase the limited partnership’s total proved reserves by 57%, with the addition of more than 355 Bcfe to its proved reserve base and an increase in production of more than 38 MMcfe/d.

Shell Canada Ltd., targeted for a buyout by parent Royal Dutch Shell plc, is nearly doubling its investment spending in 2007 to C$4 billion ($3.5 billion) from C$2.7 billion set aside this year. More than C$3.6 billion is directed for capital expenditures, and another C$400 million is tagged for related exploration and pre-development expenses.

McMoRan Exploration Co.’s quarterly natural gas and oil production rose significantly compared with a year ago, but the New Orleans-based producer reported a net loss because of exploration expenses and heavy start-up costs associated with its planned Main Pass Energy Hub (MPEH) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

Producer spending in the Rocky Mountain region is expected to total about $25 billion over the next five years as about 43,000 new wells are drilled by the top 34 companies, Wood Mackenzie’s Andrew Strachan, head of U.S. upstream research, said last week at the Colorado Oil and Gas Association’s Rocky Mountain Gas Strategy Conference in Denver.