Third

A unit of China’s Sinopec Group on Tuesday agreed to invest $2.2 billion to acquire a one-third interest in five of Devon Energy Corp.’s frontier unconventional oil and gas fields.

January natural gas managed a third straight day of nominal gains Thursday as traders largely discounted storage data that showed an ever increasing surplus with no end to the above-average increases in sight. At the close January had risen 1.4 cent to $3.169 and February had risen 0.8 cent to $3.206. February crude oil added 86 cents to $99.53/bbl.

For the third time this year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Friday postponed market compliance with certain provisions of Section VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.

With forecasts calling for below-normal temperatures in the western third of the U.S. this week, while normal and above-normal conditions are due in the more densely populated central and eastern thirds, respectively, prices dropped Friday at nearly all points. The typical weekend decline of industrial demand was an additional, albeit minor, bearish factor.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s shares fell more than 5% in midday trading Friday as investors expressed their dismay at the company’s third quarter earnings report, which indicated rising debt levels and continued heavy spending in the U.S. onshore.

Two transactions to monetize a portion of Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s 1.5 million net acres in the Utica Shale of Ohio are expected to give the independent about $3.4 billion in proceeds, CEO Aubrey McClendon said late Thursday.

Marathon Oil Corp. CEO Clarence Cazalot said the company’s purchase of 141,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale from Hilcorp Resources Holdings LP for $3.5 billion was exceeding expectations, with production totaling nearly 1,000 boe/d on Tuesday, Marathon’s first official day as operator (see Shale Daily, June 2).

For the third consecutive year, Oregon state regulators on Monday lowered the retail charges in natural gas rates for two of the state’s three private-sector gas distribution utilities. The lower charges are effective Tuesday and will bring continued lower winter gas bills, although the rates for one utility stayed essentially flat.

With a municipalization vote scheduled for Tuesday in Boulder, CO, and the state’s economy lagging, Xcel Energy CEO Ben Fowke told financial analysts on a third quarter conference call Thursday that Colorado’s largest utility operator is not concerned about a wider push for public power, although he identified Colorado as one of two states that worry him in terms of the current pace of economic recovery.