Texas

FERC on Friday rejected Northern Natural Gas Co.’s request to sell 419 miles of natural gas pipelines and associated compression facilities in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma to Duke Energy Field Services LP. FERC took this action after denying Duke Energy’s plea for the facilities to be declared nonjurisdictional gathering.

Houston-based independent Swift Energy Co., whose core operations are focused onshore Louisiana and Texas, said Monday it will purchase the interests in five oil and gas properties in South Louisiana from BP America Production Co. for $175 million. Production is about 75% natural gas, with proved reserves estimated at 58.2 Bcfe and probable reserves estimated at 28.1 Bcfe.

When buying acreage in a hot unconventional gas play, like the Barnett Shale in North Texas, it’s important to not lose your nerve at checkbook time. U.S. shale plays are hot and getting hotter. If your company is late to the party, that’s OK. Just know that the admission price is higher now.

New York-based Hess Corp. has agreed to sell substantially all of its onshore oil and natural gas assets along the Gulf Coast of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi to an undisclosed privately held company. Financial details were not disclosed.

Residual impacts from last year’s Gulf of Mexico hurricanes, higher taxes and a prolonged Texas refinery shutdown sent BP plc’s 1Q2006 net profit down 15% from a year ago, despite higher commodity prices. The London-based major posted a net profit of $5.63 billion, compared with $6.602 billion in 1Q2005.

San Antonio-based Tidelands Oil & Gas, a small Texas pipeline company with big plans for Mexico’s northeastern gas industry, has added its name to the growing list of companies vying to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals offshore Southern California.

Six Gulf Coast senators have introduced a bipartisan measure that calls for the federal government and the coastal states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi to equally share the oil and natural gas revenues generated from additional leasing in the gas-rich area known as Lease Sale 181 in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

El Paso Corp. has agreed to pay $30 million to settle claims that it allegedly underpaid royalties for production from natural gas wells in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico, according to the company’s annual 10-K report that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday.

With nearly 18 Bcf/d of new LNG import capacity approved for development along the Gulf Coasts of Texas and Louisiana and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, Transcontinental Gas PipeLine has drawn up plans for a mainline expansion project between compressor stations 45 and 85 in Louisiana. It also is planning to expand its system by about 700,000 Dth/d from Station 85 to a connection with affiliate Gulfstream Natural Gas along its Mobile Bay Lateral.