Wrangling

The turnout was expected to be light at last week’s oil and gas lease sale in the western Gulf of Mexico. But producers, apparently unconcerned about the legal wrangling over the lease sale, turned out in large numbers to bid on offshore tracts, making for what the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) called the “best” western GOM sale in nearly a decade in terms of both the number of bids submitted and the amount of money bid.

Adding to Monday’s advances, natural gas futures were higher on Tuesday as traders bid prices higher on technical bullishness and concerns over the possible formation of a tropical depression near south Florida. The September contract finished at $5.217, up 8.8 cents for the session, 18 cents for the week, and a whopping 63.7 cents off its low notched late last month.

After six months of increasingly hot and complicated wrangling, the international conflict over natural gas from offshore of Nova Scotia has boiled down to a question at its heart: How free is energy free trade?

After six months of increasingly hot and complicated wrangling, the international conflict over natural gas from offshore of Nova Scotia has boiled down to a question at its heart: How free is energy free trade?

After wrangling over who would take over whom, France’s largest oilcompany, TotalFina, and Elf Aquitaine agreed to merge in what thecompanies called an “amicable” deal. TotalFina agreed to improve theterms of its initial July 5 hostile offer for Elf that was worth about$43 billion. The move follows a counter-offer made by Elf forTotalFina (see Daily GPI, July 20).

After more than a year of wrangling between Oklahoma Natural GasCo. and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) an agreement onwhich of the LDC’s transmission and distribution assets will beregulated and which will be unregulated and open to competitivebidding has been hammered out.

Wrangling over two Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. (ONG) rate cases andunbundling of the ONG system continues in Oklahoma. OklahomaCorporation Commission Chairman Ed Apple last week voted against astipulated agreement between the commission and ONG. The agreement,which was killed in a 2-to-1 vote, had previously been appealed byOklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. The AG maintained he wasdenied due process in negotiations between the commission and ONG.Edmondson also alleged ex parte communications took place betweenONG and Commissioner Denise Bode.

Wrangling over two Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. (ONG) rate cases andunbundling of the ONG system continues in Oklahoma. OklahomaCorporation Commission Chairman Ed Apple last week voted against astipulated agreement between the commission and ONG. The agreement,which was killed in a 2-to-1 vote, had previously been appealed byOklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. The AG maintained he wasdenied due process in negotiations between the commission and ONG.Edmondson also alleged ex parte communications took place betweenONG and Commissioner Denise Bode.

After months of negotiations and two years of wrangling inCanadian courts, Pan-Alberta Gas Ltd. has been taken over by theproducers in its supply pool.