Spokesman

A spokesman for Royal Dutch/Shell Group said Tuesday the boards of the two companies are considering a unified board with one CEO, but are ruling nothing out as they revamp internal accountability systems. Shell began a major review of its twin organizations after it recategorized downward 23% of its oil and natural gas reserves over a five-month period.

No bids were offered by any producers to explore Mexico’s Corindon-Pandura natural gas block in the Burgos Basin, and a spokesman for Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said Wednesday that it now may consider whether to open a new bid process or assign the block to a specific company. Under its new Multiple Service Contract (MSC) plan, Mexico’s state oil monopoly opened up bidding on seven blocks of the gas-rich basin that borders Texas’ border to offer private companies the opportunity to explore for non-associated gas. Three blocks already have been tendered, but Pemex only received one bid for each of them. Pemex had planned to tender all of the bids by Nov. 19. Sergio Guaso, who is in charge of Pemex’s MSCs, told Reuters, “this is not good news, but it is not the end of the project.” He said Pemex may re-bid the block, resize it and reevaluate the scope of the contract or assign it directly to a specific company. Pemex will review why the block did not receive bids and then meet with potential bidders to decide how to proceed. The three remaining blocks will be auctioned on schedule, he added.

A Williams corporate spokesman said Thursday a Kern River bulletin board report, saying Jonah Field equipment problems had caused restrictions on field throughput to the Opal Plant operated by affiliate Williams Field Services, was in error. “There was a nominations snafu,” the spokesperson quoted a WFS dispatcher as saying, but no equipment problem. The plant was processing about 650 MMcf/d Thursday, which was pretty typical throughput, he said. Total Opal capacity is 730 MMcf/d.

“It’s not as if this is the Grand Canyon,” said a former energy spokesman for the Bush campaign in response to an assault on the president’s proposal to open up the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and natural gas exploration and development.

“It’s not as if this is the Grand Canyon,” said a former energy spokesman for the Bush campaign in response to an assault on the president’s proposal to open up the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and natural gas exploration and development.

An unplanned outage occurred Wednesday at Northern Border’sCompressor Station No. 4. No capacity cuts were necessary, aspokesman said, and the station was functioning normally againThursday.

The Pennsylvania Senate is expected to pass Senate bill 601, the gas deregulation bill for small commercial and residential customers, on June 7, said a spokesman for Sen. Jeff Piccola, the bill’s main sponsor.

The Pennsylvania state senate will pass senate bill 601, (SB601), the gas deregulation bill for small commercial andresidential customers, on June 7, said a spokesman for Sen. JeffPiccola’s office. Piccola is the bill’s main sponsor in the statesenate.