Took

Comstock Resources Inc.’s second quarter results took a beating from “extraordinarily low natural gas prices,” but the company continues to shift to oil in a big way and just sealed a joint venture (JV) for its “growth engine” Eagle Ford Shale acreage. Comstock expects good things to come from the Permian Basin and plans to hold on to its Haynesville-Bossier Shale acreage in anticipation of better days for dry gas.

BP plc profits took a nosedive in the second quarter, in part because of $4.8 billion in one-time costs, which included a write-down on U.S. shale resources, a decision not to proceed with a flagship drilling project offshore Alaska, and the continuing impact of the Macondo well blowout.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last week took a major step forward to regulate high-frequency trading (HFT) by proposing a definition for the term, which so far has proved to be elusive.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) took a major step forward Wednesday in the regulation of high-frequency trading (HFT) by proposing a definition for the term that has proved to be elusive.

Citizens for Property Rights (CPR), a five-member group that opposes what members believe are too-strict restrictions on gas drilling imposed by the city of Southlake, TX, failed to get enough signatures on a petition to relax some of the rules. However, CRP Chairman Stephen Oren said the group will try again.

Private equity opportunists that took a chance on distressed U.S. natural gas assets helped to sustain merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the U.S. oil and gas sector in the first three months of this year, according to PwC US.

The Eagle Ford Shale will drive a 15% increase in onshore gas production from the Texas Gulf Coast by November, offsetting declines elsewhere in Texas, according to Bentek Energy LLC. The firm said it expects Texas to be “increasingly long gas in the near term as Eagle Ford production growth continues to outpace demand,” putting downward pressure on regional prices. According to Bentek’s Texas Observer, the state’s supply is up by 1 Bcf/d, or 5%, from a year ago, with the increase driven by growth in onshore production. Demand is up only 0.6 Bcf/d over the same period, according to Bentek. “Due to the combination of Marcellus [Shale] pushback and milder winter weather, net Texas outflows have declined nearly 0.4 Bcf/d since this time last year. As a result, Texas is currently 0.8 Bcf/d longer supply than year-to-date 2011,” Bentek said.

Private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Riverstone Holdings LLC took another bet in the energy sector on Wednesday by launching a Gulf Coast-focused exploration and production company with up to $600 million of equity commitments.

An affiliate of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. on Tuesday took on Linn Energy LLC as a partner in an enhanced oil recovery project on the 22,000-acre Salt Creek Field of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.