Energy Roundup: Reliant May Shut, StatoilHydro and Chesapeake Ink $3.4B Deal, and More

(MoneyWatch)  Will Reliant sell or just shut down? -- Energy watchers are asking the question, Will Reliant sell its commercial business or be forced to shut down? Last Friday the Texas energy utility stopped signing new contracts or renewing existing ones with large commercial customers, and has said that it is exploring "the sale of all or substantially all of Reliant Energy as well as the sale of some or all of our retail business." The move comes after Reliant reported a Q3 loss of $1.04 billion. Reliant also said it has until Nov. 26 to "make a 25 percent cut in the amount of power purchases it needs to back with collateral in order to close a previously announced $650 million line of credit with Goldman Sachs," according to the Houston Chronicle. [Source: Houston Chronicle]
StatoilHydro and Chesapeake Energy sign $3.4 billion exploration deal -- The Norwegian oil and gas giant, StatoilHydro, and Chesapeake Energy Corporation, the U.S.'s biggest natural gas producer, have inked a strategic agreement to jointly explore "unconventional" gas opportunities. At $3.4 billion, it's kind of a big deal. It will buy StatoilHydro about 600,000 acres of Chesapeake's 1.8 million shale gas acres in the Appalachian region. [Source: Rigzone]
Solix Biofuels wins $15.5 million -- Solix, a Colorado-based algae biofuel startup, is to get $10.5 million in funding -- plus another $5 million to finance a pilot algae fuel plant on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation -- from Valero Energy, Southern Ute Alternative Energy (which manages clean tech investments for the Southern Ute Indian tribe), I2BF Venture Capital, Bohemian Investments and Infield. Solix hopes to produce algae fuel as well as raw materials for the chemicals industry.
[Source: StrategyEye Cleantech and Earth2Tech]

BioTherm gets $150 million investment for South Africa alt energy projects -- Denham Capital is to invest $150 million in BioTherm, a renewable energy developer that hopes to produce some 300 megawatts of biomass, biogas and waste heat projects in South Africa. South Africa has endured chronic energy shortfalls, sometimes as much as 4 gigawatts at peak hours. [Source: StrategyEye Cleantech]