Splitting

FERC is still studying strategies to coordinate the natural gas and electricity markets, but one idea floated at a recent technical conference — splitting East and West gas days — isn’t getting great reviews from some gas industry officials.

Pennsylvania state lawmakers have apparently reached a deal for the impact fee they hope to impose on natural gas drilling by splitting the difference between two competing proposals.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last Wednesday inked a secretarial order that will lead to splitting the beleaguered Minerals Management Service (MMS) into three separate entities — not into two as originally expected — to avoid future conflicts of interest between the agency and oil and natural gas producers (see NGI, May 17).

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Wednesday signed a secretarial order that will lead to splitting the beleaguered Minerals Management Service (MMS) into three separate entities — not into two as originally expected — to avoid future conflicts of interest between the agency and oil and natural gas producers (see Daily GPI, May 12).

Constellation Energy is selling its Fellon-McCord & Associates energy consulting and management subsidiary to the company’s co-founder, Andrew R. “Drew” Fellon, splitting it from its Constellation NewEnergy retail natural gas sales unit, the company said Thursday. The move comes five years after Constellation acquired the Kentucky-based retail marketer.

Calgary-based EnCana Corp. Sunday announced it was splitting into two separate companies — one a pure play in unconventional natural gas and the other an integrated oil company with some existing southern Alberta shallow gas. Given all the regulatory approvals, EnCana expects the new companies to be formed by early next year at a collective after-tax cost of “less than $300 million,” the company said.

To prepare for El Paso Energy’s looming takeover of CoastalCorp., Westcoast Energy Inc. and Coastal are splitting up EngageEnergy, their three-year-old marketing venture, with each retaininga half interest in the Houston-based gas marketer. The split shouldbe completed by the end of the week.

A new Office of Energy Projects will oversee the engineering andenvironmental review aspects of pipeline certificates, splitting”our economic and non-economic regulatory efforts,” FERC ChairmanJames Hoecker said.