Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand its Transco natural gas pipeline to serve markets in the southeastern United States.  On approval from FERC, Williams expects the Mobile Bay South II Expansion project to provide services by spring 2011.   Through the expansion project, Williams expects to add 380,000 dekatherms of southbound, year-round firm transportation capacity on the Mobile Bay Lateral from Transco's mainline at Station 85 near Butler, Alabama, to its interconnect with Gulfstream Natural Gas System in Coden, Alabama.   Williams estimates that the project will require a compression addition of 8,180 horsepower at Transco compressor station 85 and facility modifications at Station 83. It expects the project facilities to cost approximately $36 million.   Recently, the company’s Mobile Bay natural gas processing plant returned to service, processing between 100 million and 200 million cubic feet ...

Yesterday, privately-owned Chaparral Energy, Inc. and publicly held United Refining Energy Corp. jointly announced that they have entered into a merger agreement. The combined company will be named Chaparral Energy, Inc. and will remain trading on the NYSE Amex until approval of a planned application to transfer listing to the NYSE. Once transferred, the company will use “CPR” as its symbol. The proposed transaction is valued at approximately $1.8 billion, and is expected to close by December 11, 2009.

Chaparral’s senior management team, including Chairman and CEO Mark A. Fischer; Joseph O. Evans, CFO; and Robert W. Kelly II, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, will continue to lead the company through this merger. John A. Catsimatidis, URX’s current CEO and Chairman, will act as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of the combined company.

Founded in 1988, Chaparral has developed a substantial asset base of long-lived oil and gas

...

BEXP, Brigham Exploration Co.

MSGI, MSGI Security Solutions Inc, MSGI.OB

PennyOmega.com Watch List!

PennyOmega.com Watch List ! for Tuesday August 11, 2009

Our Picks at PennyOmega.com for Tuesday August 11, 2009 are:

**************************************************************

BEXP, Brigham Exploration Co.

BEXP engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas reserves in the Rocky Mountains, Onshore Gulf Coast, Anadarko Basin, and west Texas.

BEXP holds property interests in the Powder River Basin located in Wyoming. It also holds property interests in the Onshore Gulf Coast consisting of the Vicksburg trend in Brooks County, Texas; Miocene and Upper Oligocene trends in Southern Louisiana; and the Frio trend in and around Matagorda County, Texas.

**Today, after Closing Bell, BEXP announced that

...

Enterprise Products Partners, L.P. (EPD), a leading master limited partnership (MLP), reported its second quarter results before today's market opened.

Recurring earnings per limited partners unit was $0.43, beating both our estimates and consensus estimates of $0.41 per limited partners unit.

The quarter's results were negatively impacted by approximately $0.11 per unit for non-cash items. Without accounting for these items, earnings were $0.32 per unit, compared to $0.52 per unit in the year-earlier period.

The year-over-year negative comparison reflects lower commodity prices. This was more than offset by increased natural gas liquids (NGL), crude oil and petrochemical transportation volumes, as well as a rise in natural gas transportation volumes.

Importantly, Enterprise increased its quarterly distribution by 5.8% year-over-year to the annualized run rate of $2.18 per unit. This was the 20th consecutive quarterly distribution increase. The partnership generated distributable cash flow (DCF) of $328 million in the quarter, providing 1.1x distribution coverage.

Revenue

...

HIDDEN VALUE

Dear Reader, 

Is China buying gold to protect itself from the worst financial crisis in history? 

Although we can’t be 100% sure, we can make a compelling case. 

This from Ed Steer, who writes for our friends over at Casey Research… 

In the last three days, I’ve noticed that there has been a change in pattern during Far East trading. It’s not a lot, but it’s something I haven’t seen since I started watching the Kitco gold charts about ten years ago. A buyer [either going long, or covering short positions] is active in Hong Kong trading [in both gold and silver] that I’ve never seen there before. Is it something… or is it nothing? I know that three days activity can hardly be considered a trend… but

…

El Paso Pipeline Partners L.P. (...

Global stocks are getting mauled again today. Wild market swings are making stock investing a risky business. But Floyd Brown says little-known Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) provide a steady dividend income and are extremely cheap right now. They have the tax benefits of a partnership, but the liquidity of a publicly traded stock. Floyd gives his three favourite MLP plays in the energy sector.

This from Investment U:

Most investors have never heard of, or purchased, shares of a master limited partnership (MLP). But, with many yielding more than 10% and prices at historically low levels, these bargains are getting hard to ignore.

Few investors know that master limited partnerships are publicly traded asset pools. They have the tax benefits of a partnership plus the liquidity of a publicly traded stock.

Because they invest in many different types of assets, most master limited partnerships have significant debts on the balance sheet and

...

San Diego-based Royale Energy Inc. (Nasdaq: ROYL) focuses on the development, acquisition, exploration and production of natural gas and oil in California, Texas and the Rocky Mountains. The company today announced a natural gas find in California as part of its 2008-A drilling project.

The natural gas was discovered in its Andrus Island East well in the Sacramento Basin. The well was drilled to 7,000 feet and logged pay dirt in two natural gas-filled sands in the Nortinville formation at 3,350 feet and 3,800 feet, according to the press release.

The Starkey Channel had greater depth, and - though it posed more of a risk - the company continued with operations and the well was penetrated at 6,500 feet and encountered 26 feet of high porosity and permeable, natural-gas filled sands.

“The company had drilled four commercially productive wells to the shallower Nortinville formations on Andrus Island,” Donald Hosmer, Royale

...

Whiting Petroleum Corporation (WLL), the independent oil and gas company that explores primarily in the Permian Basin, Rocky Mountains, Mid-Continent, Gulf Coast and Michigan, continues to be a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stock even as crude and natural gas prices have pulled back from record highs.

On July 30, WLL reported second quarter earnings that missed on analysts' estimates by 5.47%, or 11 cents per share. However, it was a record quarter for the company, as net income spiked to $80.4 million, or $1.90 per share, from $26.5 million, or 72 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2007.

Production continues to increase year over year with first half production in 2008 totaling 7.76 MMBOE, or 42,660 BOE per day, compared with 7.26 MMBOE, or 40,090 BOE per day, in the first half of 2007.

The company is bullish about production going forward. It has

...

Unit Corp. (UNT) recently delivered second-quarter earnings per share of $2.00, eclipsing the previous year’s $1.41 and topping the consensus estimate by a penny. During the past four consecutive quarters, the company’s earnings results were ahead of Street estimates three times and matched the other time.

Company Description

Unit Corporation is a diversified energy company engaged through its subsidiaries in the exploration for and production of oil and natural gas, the acquisition of producing oil and natural gas properties, the contract drilling of onshore oil and natural gas wells, and the gathering and processing of natural gas. Operations are principally located in the Mid-Continent region, including the Anadarko, Arkoma, Permian, Rocky Mountains and Gulf Coast Basins.

Solid Quarterly Results Included a New Record for UNT

The company recently delivered second-quarter earnings per share of $2.00, eclipsing the previous year’s $1.41 and topping the consensus estimate by a

...