Twice

John F. Riordan, 72, twice chairman of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and past president and CEO of GTI, the Gas Technology Institute, died Thursday. Riordan, who died following a brief illness, had been a board member for National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG) since 2000 and also had served on Nicor Inc.’s board. Riordan’s 40-year career in the energy industry included helming GTI from April 2000 to December 2005. He also was past president and CEO of MidCon Corp. and president of the commodity chemical business at Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy). Riordan directed Oxy’s sale of MidCon to KN Energy Inc. and he served as vice chairman of KN Energy from February 1998 to February 1999. In addition, Riordan was formerly president of the natural gas liquids business at Cities Service Co. “Our sympathies are with John’s family at this sad time,” said NFG CEO David F. Smith. “He was a most valuable member of our board of directors and his leadership and keen insight strongly contributed to the success and growth the company has achieved. He will be deeply missed.”

Domestic drilling activity in the second quarter was twice the level of second quarter drilling recorded during the 1990s, with natural gas leading the way at a record-setting pace, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported in its well completion report for the period. Second-quarter activity, which was at a 21-year high, saw a total of 13,009 oil wells, natural gas wells and dry holes completed, up 3% from the comparable period in 2006. It was preceded by strong drilling activity in the first quarter during which 11,771 wells and dry holes were completed. Natural gas continues to be the primary target for domestic drilling, the oil and gas producer group said. It estimated that 7,209 natural gas wells were completed in the second quarter, setting a record for gas activity for the period. It comes on the heels of record gas activity in the first quarter during which 7,085 gas wells were completed. Total estimated exploratory completions, accounting for almost 11% of total estimated completions, increased 39% in the second quarter compared to the same period a year ago, the API said. It noted that total development completions remained unchanged.

Domestic drilling activity in the second quarter was twice the level of second quarter drilling recorded during the 1990s, with natural gas leading the way at a record-setting pace, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported in its well completion report for the period.

After being outbid twice in its hostile takeover battle for the shares of Canada Southern Petroleum, Petro Canada said Thursday that it had no intention of raising its offer for a third time. White knight Canadian Oil Sands bested Petro-Canada’s latest $13/share offer by a dime on Wednesday, retaining the favor of the Canada Southern board.

An estimated 650 Bcf of Gulf natural gas production will have been lost — or more than twice the amount of gas lost to date (321 Bcf) since Hurricane Katrina struck in late August — by the time industry fully recovers in early 2006, FERC staff said in a market assessment of the upcoming heating season that was released Thursday. That would mean that 18% of the Gulf’s annual gas output would be lost as a result of hurricane-related damages. The agency also projected that almost 2 Bcf/d will remain shut in during the November-through-March winter period.

After bumping their head on the $7.34 level twice during the session, April natural gas futures on Tuesday ultimately appeared to be intimidated by the significant weakness displayed by big brother crude.

Good upstream operations capitalizing on strong commodity prices catapulted ConocoPhillips’ fourth quarter 2004 earnings to more than twice the level for the same period a year earlier, the company reported Wednesday. It recorded net income of $2.4 billion, or $3.44/share, this past quarter, compared with $1 billion, or $1.48/share, for the fourth quarter of 2003. Revenues were $40.1 billion, compared to $26 billion for the same period the previous year.

Average temperature in the Arctic have risen at almost twice the rate as the rest of the world in the past few decades, according to the latest Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA). Most of the environmental and societal impacts would be considered negative, but the independent group acknowledged that reduced sea ice likely would increase marine access and expand offshore oil and natural gas extraction.

Average temperature in the Arctic have risen at almost twice the rate as the rest of the world in the past few decades, according to the latest Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA). Most of the environmental and societal impacts would be considered negative, but the independent group acknowledged that reduced sea ice likely would increase marine access and expand offshore oil and natural gas extraction.