Spending

New Orleans-based McMoRan Exploration Co., which is spending millions in start-up costs to develop the Main Pass Energy Hub (MPEH) to regasify liquefied natural gas (LNG) offshore Louisiana, on Thursday reported 2Q2006 net income of $14.1 million ($0.32/share), compared with a net loss of $16.2 million (minus $0.66) for the same period a year ago. The independent also reported its oil and natural gas output jumped 46% sequentially over 1Q2006.

A House spending bill amendment would “penalize scores” of oil and natural gas producers who hold royalty-free leases that were negotiated in 1998 and 1999 by barring them from bidding on new Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leases in 2007, said the president of the American Petroleum Institute (API) Monday.

After spending four days on the witness stand defending himself, former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling finally appeared to have had enough on Thursday. He angrily accused the government of “rewriting history” and of trying to pin the blame for the company’s collapse on “innocent people.”

In abbreviated mark-up sessions the first week of April, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed two “feel good” amendments to increase spending for a federal energy assistance program by 50% effective 2006 and extend Daylight Saving Time by a month at either end. The mark-up was cut short to allow key lawmakers to attend the Pope’s funeral; it will resume on April 12 at 2 p.m.

After spending almost the entire session trading below Tuesday’s $6.68 settle, April natural gas futures moved to the plus side in the final hour-and-a-half of trading on Wednesday on continued strength in the petroleum futures market.

The nation’s top three energy-related agencies, the departments of Energy, Interior and Transportation, shared in the general cutback for domestic spending in President Bush’s $2.57 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2006, which featured increased funding for the military and for international programs.

The nation’s top three energy-related agencies, the departments of Energy, Interior and Transportation, shared in the general cutback for domestic spending in President Bush’s $2.57 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2006, which featured increased funding for the military and for international programs.

After spending the past two years shedding assets to shore up its balance sheet, Dynegy Inc. on Tuesday announced it is buying Sithe Energies and Sithe Independence LP from Exelon Corp., which includes a 1,042 MW combined-cycle power generation facility near Scriba, NY, four natural gas-fired merchant facilities in New York and four hydroelectric generation facilities in Pennsylvania.

After weeks of flirting with the $6 resistance level, May natural gas futures finally broke it Monday, spending a majority of the day above May’s previous high of $5.99, which was set on April 1. The prompt month settled at $6.009, up 6.8 cents on the day, while trading within the $5.890-6.030 range.