Want

A record number of applicants want to drill for natural gas and crude oil in the United States, with the combined permit total 4.7% higher than the same period in 2004, according to a survey by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC). Of 24 states surveyed, 19 had higher well permits during the period, and most were for natural gas wells.

Gulf South Pipeline LP and Texas Gas Transmission LLC began simultaneous non-binding open seasons on Friday to expand natural gas supply from the Barnett Shale and Bossier Trends in Texas and Louisiana. The proposed in-service date for incremental firm capacity could be as early as Nov. 1, with some capacity available as soon as March 1.

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling has requested that his criminal trial, now scheduled for Houston, be moved out of state. Ex-Chairman Kenneth Lay, who originally was seeking a separate trial, and former Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey joined in the motion because prejudice in Houston was “so extensive, pervasive and profound.”

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling has requested that his criminal trial, now scheduled for Houston, be moved out of state. Ex-Chairman Kenneth Lay, who originally was seeking a separate trial, joined in the motion because prejudice in Houston was “so extensive, pervasive and profound,” according to court documents filed Monday.

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling has requested that his criminal trial, now scheduled for Houston, be moved out of state. Ex-Chairman Kenneth Lay, who originally was seeking a separate trial, joined in the motion because prejudice in Houston was “so extensive, pervasive and profound,” according to court documents filed Monday.

If regulators want to see lower gas prices and meet the public’s call for more energy conservation, gas utility rate designs must be changed, the American Gas Association (AGA) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said last week in an unusual joint statement.

In an unprecedented show of support for accurate natural gas price indices, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week issued an order requiring 11 major energy companies, many of whom have publicly admitted providing false data to trade publications that publish indices, to prove that they have changed their ways. They must either demonstrate that they have installed controls to prevent any attempt at price index manipulation in the future, or show that they have exited the wholesale gas marketing and trading business entirely.

ChevronTexaco Inc. (CVX) on Friday said it was unwilling to resume oil production in Nigeria after a series of ethnic clashes forced evacuation earlier this month. Royal Dutch/Shell Group stopped its production in the western Niger Delta last Wednesday, and also has not decided when to return to the region.

UBS AG and Bank of America (BofA) want FERC to take a second look at a recent decision in which the federal agency agreed to allow the banks in the power marketing business to acquire public utility securities, but placed a ceiling of 1% on their holdings of equity securities and funded debt of other public utilities.