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BP Exploration & Production Inc. and Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC were revealed to be the big players at the table Wednesday when the Minerals Management Service (MMS) unveiled the winning bids in its Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil and natural gas Lease Sale 204. In all, winning bids for the 282 tracts offered totaled $290 million.

Only the two Arizona/Nevada points in NGI’s price index table avoided an overall downturn Tuesday as cold fronts were expected to keep summer heat subdued in key northern market areas. Monday’s decline of 2.6 cents by September futures added a further minor bearish note to Tuesday’s cash trading.

It’s been a long time coming, but Double Eagle Petroleum has spudded a wildcat, Table Top Unit No. 1, in the Christmas Meadows prospect in Summit County, UT, at the intersection of the Overthrust Belt and the Unita Mountains in the corner of the Green River Basin play. The hold-up on going into what is believed to be a large anticline dome first spotted by Gulf Oil in the 1970s, has been getting a permit to drill in the environmentally sensitive area up against the High Unita Mountain Wilderness area. Others — Amoco and Chevron — staked it out and then moved on after years of waiting. Permitting for Double Eagle has involved dealing for more than 10 years with both the National Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Double Eagle first acquired some leases in 1984 and has added to them, acquiring the last critical acreage in 2003. The company now has an interest in 41,237 gross acres, according to CEO Steve Hollis, who says they are estimating initial drilling time for the first well at about 100 days — or before Christmas. Double Eagle has a 25% working interest in the Christmas Meadows prospect. The first well is initially targeting the Frontier and Dakota formations, both combination oil and gas plays, at about 15,000 feet. “Once we know the structure is there, we can go deeper,” Hollis said. The deeper plays in the area of 20,000 feet likely would be all gas. Some estimates have put potential reserves at 2 Tcf.

It’s been a long time coming, but Double Eagle Petroleum has spudded a wildcat, Table Top Unit No. 1, in the Christmas Meadows prospect in Summit County, UT, at the intersection of the Overthrust Belt and the Unita Mountains in the corner of the Green River Basin play.

Sixty-six House lawmakers asked Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne Friday to table plans for a tentatively scheduled September oil and gas lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA) around the environmentally sensitive Teshekpuk Lake area.

Sixty-six House lawmakers urged Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne Friday to table plans for a tentatively scheduled September oil and gas lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA) around the environmentally sensitive Teshekpuk Lake area.

Robust commodity prices and a strong market for oil and gas properties are nudging industry small fry to the energy patch deal table, too. Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP) said it is pursuing the divestiture of nonstrategic oil and gas properties, mainly in California and Texas, the company said. Separately, Midland, TX-based independent Saber Resources LLC hired Energy Spectrum Advisors Inc. (ESA) to divest all of its oil and gas interests in the Permian Basin, which are about 90% oil producing.

CIG has taken one unit at Table Rock (WY) Compressor Station out of service through June 23, reducing station capacity from 30 MMcf/d to 8 MMcf/d.

House Republicans from Pennsylvania on Wednesday criticized the Interior Department’s proposed fall 2007 time table for leasing additional acreage in the natural gas-prone offshore area known as Lease 181 in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.