Went

After officially entering service on Jan. 1 (see Daily GPI, Jan. 6), Dominion’s Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion project went into full commercial service Thursday after the Maryland segment of the project — 48 miles of 36-inch diameter pipeline loop — was completed.

Central Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Lease Sale 208 went off as planned in New Orleans last Wednesday — despite earlier fears among some Republicans of a delay by the Obama administration — and the results of bidding were “good…not great,” said the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) Lars Herbst, regional director for the GOM.

Central Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Lease Sale 208 went off as planned in New Orleans Wednesday — despite earlier fears among some Republicans of a delay by the Obama administration — and the results of bidding were “good…not great,” said the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) Lars Herbst, regional director for the GOM.

Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) went private Friday with the closing of the $7.4 billion transaction between the combination utility’s holding company, Puget Energy, and a consortium of private investor groups led by a North American unit of Australia-based Macquarie. All of the issued and outstanding PSE common shares were purchased for $30/share.

Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) went private Friday with the closing of the $7.4 billion transaction between the combination utility’s holding company, Puget Energy, and a consortium of private investor groups led by a North American unit of Australia-based Macquarie. All of the issued and outstanding PSE common shares were purchased for $30/share.

Winter 2008-2009 showed up in full force over the weekend as temperatures went into the negatives in a number of regions. The cold snap that is affecting much of the United States led to cash market gains almost across the board on Monday, with the exception of a few Northeast averages, which showed declines.

December natural gas futures went off the board on Monday with a bang as the expectation of cold and last-day short-covering drove the contract 40.8 cents higher to expire at $6.888. January natural gas closed up 32.4 cents at $6.827.

Thomas Myers “Tom” Hunt, who went to work for his uncle, the legendary wildcatter H.L. Hunt, before World War II and eventually chaired privately held Hunt Petroleum, died Tuesday in Dallas at the age of 85. Tom Hunt was working in the oilfields in the 1930s and was said to have impressed his uncle, who hired him as an adviser. The younger Hunt eventually rose to manage all of the family’s operations, and he negotiated some of the oil company’s most important transactions. Earlier this year he negotiated the company’s acquisition by XTO Energy Corp. for nearly $4.2 billion (see Daily GPI, June 11). A life-long bachelor, Hunt was said to avoid publicity, and he preferred answering his own phone, associates said.

Hurricane Ike caused the largest blackout in Texas history when it roared ashore at Galveston Sept. 14, and it went on to knock out power to millions from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes. Nearly two million customers, most in the Houston and Galveston area, remained powerless on Friday, and the utilities serving the region warned that some customers could be without electricity into October.