Transactions

As global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets rely more heavily on spot transactions, the United States has been mostly a wallflower, leaning instead on cheap gas at home. Meanwhile, abundant shale gas supplies in North America — and potentially around the world — have not gone unnoticed in the LNG arena, according to the International Gas Union’s (IGU) newly released World LNG Report for 2010.

As global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets rely more heavily on spot transactions, the United States has been mostly a wallflower, leaning instead on cheap gas at home. Meanwhile, abundant shale gas supplies in North America — and potentially around the world — have not gone unnoticed in the LNG arena, according to the International Gas Union’s (IGU) newly released World LNG Report for 2010.

In one of the highest-priced transactions to date in any U.S. shale play, Marathon Oil Corp. last week agreed to pay $3.5 billion, or as much as $25,000/acre, for 141,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas.

In one of the highest-priced transactions to date in any U.S. shale play, Marathon Oil Corp. on Wednesday agreed to pay $3.5 billion, or as much as $25,000/acre, for 141,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas.

Marathon Oil Corp. has agreed to pay $3.5 billion to acquire the Eagle Ford Shale assets of Hilcorp Resources Holdings LP. Along with other transactions expected to close by the end of this year, Marathon’s Eagle Ford position is expected to more than double to 285,000 net acres, the company said.

Andrew Fastow, whose ingenious off-the-book transactions as CFO of Enron Corp. enriched him while helping to precipitate one of the biggest corporate collapses in history, has been released to a community corrections facility in Houston until he completes his prison sentence in mid-December, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Fastow, now 49, was facing 98 criminal charges but pleaded guilty to two criminal counts and agreed to testify for the government against his former colleagues (see Daily GPI, Sept. 27, 2006). His key testimony led to the convictions of several Enron executives, most notably founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who were convicted on numerous charges in 2006 (see Daily GPI, May 26, 2006). Skilling, convicted on 19 criminal counts, is scheduled to be released from federal prison in 2030; he is appealing. Lay was convicted on 10 criminal counts, but died before sentencing and the convictions were dismissed. Wife Lea Fastow, also a former Enron employee, served a one-year prison term; she continues to live in Houston with the couple’s two children.

Better-than-expected performance in the Marcellus Shale helped Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.’s shareholders kick the stock almost 13% higher on Wednesday.

A flurry of shale business combinations over the last three years “are just the beginning of an asset shift in the industry,” according to a report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers USA (PwC).

Williams Partners LP grabbed more business in the Marcellus Shale late Thursday after agreeing to pay Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. $150 million for 75 miles of gathering pipelines and two compressor stations in Susquehanna County, PA.