Totals

Well completions in the fourth quarter were up 37% compared to the same period a year earlier but remained well below 4Q2008 levels, and 2010 totals also remained below 2008 levels, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Well completions in the fourth quarter were up 37% compared to the same period a year earlier but remained well below 4Q2008 levels, and 2010 totals also remained below 2008 levels, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API).

While natural gas marketers overall registered an approximate 12% gain in volumes sold in NGI’s 1Q2008 marketer survey over year-ago totals, Constellation Energy Group, now fourth in the marketer listings, and Louis Dreyfus Energy Services LP, now in sixth place, reported remarkable sales volume gains of 54% and 68%, respectively. Shell Energy North America, Nexen Inc. and Tenaska Marketing Ventures all reported sales volume increases of more than 20%, while Chesapeake Energy Corp. and XTO Energy Inc. both had sales that were up by 32% over 1Q2007.

While natural gas marketers overall registered an approximate 12% gain in volumes sold in NGI’s 1Q2008 marketer survey over year-ago totals, Constellation Energy Group, now fourth in the marketer listings, and Louis Dreyfus Energy Services LP, now in sixth place, reported remarkable sales volume gains of 54% and 68%, respectively. Shell Energy North America, Nexen Inc. and Tenaska Marketing Ventures all reported sales volume increases of more than 20%, while Chesapeake Energy Corp. and XTO Energy Inc. both had sales that were up by 32% over 1Q2007.

One of Mirant Corp.’s largest shareholders and a creditor in its three-year Chapter 11 bankruptcy process on Thursday asked the company to drop its attempt at a hostile takeover of NRG Energy and instead put the company up for sale. Connecticut-based Pirate Capital LLC, the portfolio manager of the investment fund, wrote to Mirant’s CEO and directors, saying investors are “concerned” about the offer to buy NRG.

WPS Resources Corp. completed the $315 million acquisition of natural gas distribution operations serving 161,000 customers in Michigan from Aquila Inc. Annual gas throughput from the Michigan operations totals 36 Bcf/year, and the distribution system includes a 3.6 Bcf storage field. The assets operate under a cost-of-service environment and are currently allowed an 11.4% authorized return on equity on a 45% equity component of the regulatory capital structure. “This acquisition is a great strategic fit with our existing operations given the geographic and operational profile of our combined asset base,” said WPS Chairman said Larry Weyers. “We are building the scale and scope of our regulated operations in a jurisdiction where we already operate. Natural gas distribution is a core business for us.” Weyers said that WPS Resources will not reduce field staff, but instead is welcoming the 182 Michigan employees into its existing ranks of 2,945 employees. The assets will be owned and operated by WPS Resources’ wholly owned subsidiary, Michigan Gas Utilities Corp. The Minnesota portion of the acquisition announced in September 2005 is expected to close in the first half of 2006. Combined with the acquired Michigan assets, WPS will serve roughly 469,000 gas customers through its regulated utilities with annual natural gas throughput of 118.6 Bcf. WPS already serves more than 476,000 electric customers through its regulated electric utilities.

With 54 producers reporting, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) said Friday that shut-in natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico now totals 3.384 Bcf/d, down from 3.411 Bcf/d reported a day earlier. The shut-in gas is equivalent to 33.84% of the daily gas production in the Gulf, currently 10 Bcf/d.

The reason the Thursday morning announcement of storage totals by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has become the number for the industry and traders alike to hang their gas hats on is because it is the only up-to-date supply-demand information available, several witnesses told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Tuesday.

Following through on previously announced divestiture plans, EnCana Corp. announced the sale of 66 Bcfe of conventional natural gas reserves in northeastern Alberta for US$219 million (C$292 million). The properties currently produce about 7,250 boe/d after royalties (9,400 boe/d before royalties). The Calgary-based buyer was not disclosed.