Things

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) has introduced a $40 billion sweeping energy bill that, among other things, calls for the Interior Department to open additional acreage in Lease Sale 181 in the eastern Gulf of Mexico for oil and natural gas drilling.

The natural gas industry had a lot of troublemakers shaking things up last year, with price spikes, up-and-down weather and hurricane-related supply disruptions. Energy traders, though, managed to take a lot of those lemons and make lemonade, with all but one of NGI’s top 10 North American gas marketers squeezing out strong gains for the final quarter of 2005, and all but one showing strong gains for the year.

The much-anticipated combination of FPL Group and Constellation Energy announced last week is likely a harbinger of things to come in a post-PUHCA era, analysts say. However, don’t expect a frenzy of activity, and utility combinations in the absence of non regulated assets will have less appeal than pairings like FPL and Constellation, a deal predicated on non regulated business.

The House Agriculture Committee Wednesday voted out legislation that reauthorizes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and, among other things, augments the agency’s oversight of the natural gas market.

Getting things back to a semblance of normalcy, Oklahoma City-based Kerr-McGee Corp. on Thursday announced that it has increased its net production in the Gulf of Mexico to 95,000 Boe/d, representing nearly 75% of pre-hurricane volumes.

The Republican-led House approved by a two-vote margin Friday a bill that, among other things, would give FERC the authority to monitor non-jurisdictional natural gas gathering in federal waters and would spur the construction of a long-line transportation system from Alaska to the Lower 48 states.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is floating a discussion draft of a bill that would, among other things, give FERC the authority to regulate the rates for natural gas gathering service on the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), said energy analyst Christine Tezak.

Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), chairman of the powerful House Resources Committee, is circulating a proposal that, among other things, calls for the federal government to close and sell up to 15 national parks to the oil and natural gas industry and private developers.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer on Friday announced a $1.52 billion settlement with Enron Corp. to resolve market manipulation and price-gouging claims stemming from the sale of natural gas and electricity during the 2000-2001 energy crisis on the West Coast.