Nat Gas News – August 22 2017

Sempra Energy Bids $9.45 billion for Oncor, Topping Warren Buffett’s Offer

The Los Angeles Times reports: Sempra Energy is buying Texas power transmitter Oncor for $9.45 billion in cash, wresting it away from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Sempra said Monday that it will also pick up $9.35 billion of the company’s debt. To gain possession of Oncor, Sempra will acquire the reorganized Energy Future Holdings Corp. Energy Future entered bankruptcy in 2014, saddled with more than $40 billion in debt due to cratering energy prices. This is the fourth time that that an acquisition attempt has been made for Oncor. There was Berkshire Hathaway’s offer last month, and in April, Texas regulators rejected a proposed $18-billion sale of Oncor to Next Era Energy Inc. That price tag included debt. Regulators failed to accept that the Next Era transaction was in the public interest — a requirement for the deal. For more visit latimes.com or click the following link http://lat.ms/2v7GHta

Goldman Lost $100M on Marcellus Natural Gas Bet

Oilprice.com reports: When construction on a key pipeline to transport Marcellus shale natural gas was delayed, Goldman Sachs lost more than US$100 million on a bet that Marcellus gas prices in the Marcellus shale would rise as takeaway pipeline capacity increased, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the trade. According to The Journal’s sources familiar with Goldman’s wrong way bet, the investment bank bet on the timely completion of pipelines designed to carry gas out of the Marcellus shale in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Goldman had placed bets that the natural gas prices in the Marcellus would rise relative to the Henry Hub national benchmark. For more on this story visit oilprice.com or click http://bit.ly/2vXuFnk