Energy Roundup: StatoilHydro Explores North Sea, Barclays Slashes NG Forecast, Merger Madness, and More

(MoneyWatch)  Pronounce this: NPSA consents to Vigdis, Tune, Yttergryta projects in North Sea -- The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority has let StatoilHydro use offshore rigs and facilities for operations near Norway for exploration purposes. The fields involved are the Vigdis, Tune, and Yttergryta. The submersible platform, Borgland Dolphin, will be involved in the research. [Source: Energy Current]

Barclays' analyst slashes natural gas price forecast -- After warning that gas prices might fall to between $5 per one million British thermal units (MMBtu) and $6 per MMBtu to balance a glutted market, Barclays' analyst Tom Driscoll has reduced his forecast 13 percent, to $6.75 per MMBtu for the rest of 2008, and by 14 percent, to $6.50 per MMBtu, for 2009. "Strong supply growth and a deteriorating demand outlook will likely weigh on gas prices," Driscoll noted. (A BTU is the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of a pint of water by one degree Fahrenheit.) [Source: Platts]

Now is the time for merger madness -- Writing in Canada's National Post, Zena Olijnyk says that "a steep decline in share prices, week commodity prices and tight credit markets provide the perfect conditions for consolidation in the junior oil and gas sector." Olijnyk quotes Scotia Capital analyst, George Toriola, as saying: "In our opinion, companies with a cost of capital advantage [will] probably emerge as consolidators." [Source: National Post]

Innovalight secures $5 million in funding -- Thin-film solar startup Innovalight, which makes photovoltaic "silicon ink," has won $5 million in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank and Leader Ventures. This on top of the $5 million in had already won from ATEL Ventures in July. [Source: Earth2Tech]
Biofuels Capital Partners throws in the towel -- Biofuels Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm that planned to "bridge the gap between early-stage cleantech venture capitalists and expansion stage project financiers in the biofuels market," has abandoned its fund-raising drive, even though it had secured around half of its $250 million target. BCF's founder, Bob Johnsen, is CEO of Promethegen, a biofuel startup which he founded.

(Image courtesy Dolphin)