Wyo gains two rigs

HOUSTON - The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States fell by 13 this week to 2,018.

Of the rigs running nationwide, 1,589 were exploring for natural gas and 417 for oil, Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday. Twelve were listed as miscellaneous.

A year ago, the rig count stood at 1,769.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Wyoming gained two rigs while Arkansas, Louisiana and Mexico gained one apiece. Oklahoma lost five rigs, and Texas lost two. North Dakota lost one. Alaska, California and Colorado were unchanged.

Baker Hughes has tracked rig counts since 1944. The tally peaked at 4,530 in 1981, during the height of the oil boom. The industry posted several record lows in 1999, bottoming out at 488.

SBA has new head for Region VIII

Russell Smith has been named the new Regional Administrator for Small Business Association's Region VIII. The region, the most rural in the nation, includes Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

Smith will oversee the region's district offices and the implementation of agency programs, services and priorities. In his first week in his new role, he toured the region to look at SBA's field operations and assess the needs of the area's small businesses.

Smith has served in two roles since joining the SBA in 2007: as a senior advisor in the Office of Capital Access and as the deputy director for the Office of Communications and Public Liaison.

Smith, whose family runs several small businesses, including a farm in north-central Kentucky, spent time in the energy law practice of White & Case, a New York-based firm with more than 30 offices worldwide. He also worked at the Army Historical Foundation, a veterans' nonprofit, based in Arlington, Va.

WAR names Realtor of the Year

The Wyoming Association of Realtors recently named Robert "Butch" Buell of Buffalo as the 2008 Realtor of the Year, according to a release.

Buell has been a Realtor for 19 years, serving three terms as president of the Buffalo Board of Realtors. He is the past recipient of the Buffalo Board of Realtors' Realtor of the Year and the WAR President's Distinguished Service awards.

As the Wyoming Realtor of the Year, Buell will represent the state at the National Association of Realtors' annual convention in Florida this November.

Cheyenne hosts two home energy workshops

Home energy efficiency is the focus for two regional workshops the first weekend of October in Cheyenne, according to a release. The Wyoming Utility Efficiency Exchange will be immediately followed by a Home Energy Makeover Workshop and Expo from Oct. 2-4 at Laramie County Community College.

The Wyoming Utility Efficiency Exchange will facilitate networking and professional development for the staff of energy utilities and allies throughout Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain region who are responsible for developing and implementing customer programs related to energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The Home Energy Makeover Workshop and Expo event aims to encourage area homeowners to proactively install home energy-saving improvements obtained from local retailers.

Admission is $15 per person at the door, but select nonprofit community groups are selling advance admission tickets for just $10.

Detailed information about both events is available at www.wyominghomeperformance.com/Events.

Arch Coal earns another ranking

Arch Coal, Inc. announced this week that it again earned a spot on the 2008 InformationWeek 500 list, according to a release. This is the third consecutive year that Arch Coal has been ranked as one of the most innovative companies by InformationWeek. The 2008 InformationWeek 500 companies were released on Sept 15 at a ceremony held during a conference in Monarch Beach, Calif.

Petroleum Development moves HQ to Denver

Oil and natural gas producer Petroleum Development Corp. plans to move its corporate headquarters from Bridgeport, W.Va. to Denver next year, according to a release. The move announced Thursday will be effective March 1.

Petroleum Development President and CEO Richard W. McCullough said more than 80 percent of the company's total production is in the Rocky Mountains.

Ninety-five employees currently work at the Bridgeport office. Petroleum Development employs a total 309 full-time workers.

DIA officials are undecided on expansion

Denver International Airport hasn't decided whether to go ahead with a 10-gate, $280 million expansion because of uncertainty in the airline industry.

Spokesman Chuck Cannon says the airport is waiting to see the extent of the airlines' fall cutbacks before making a decision.

Denver-based Frontier Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy protection in April, has returned five gates to the airport, removing some of the pressure to expand.

Despite high ticket prices and a troubled economy, Denver's passenger traffic has grown this year.

In July, the airport's monthly passenger count exceeded 5 million for the first time.

Qwest names former XM exec as new CFO

Qwest Communications has named former XM Satellite Radio executive Joseph J. Euteneuer as its new chief financial officer and executive vice president.

The 53-year-old Euteneuer replaces John W. Richardson. Qwest announced in April that Richardson was leaving the company by mutual agreement.

He had been CFO of XM since 2002. Before that, Euteneuer spent 15 years in executive positions at Comcast Corp. He was executive vice president and chief financial officer for Comcast BroadNet Europe from 2000 to 2002.

Qwest is the primary telephone service provider in 14 mostly Western states.

United sees $700M in additional fee revenue

United Airlines said Thursday it expects to bring in an additional $700 million in revenue from charging for second items such as checked baggage and from a program that allows frequent fliers to earn miles faster by paying a fee.

Early last week, United doubled its fee for a second checked bag to $50.

One new program allowing travelers to pay extra to earn double or triple award miles on a flight is on track to bring in an extra $1.5 million in revenue in its first month after sales to about 20,000 people, said Kathryn Mikells, the company's chief of investor relations. That program alone should be worth tens of millions of dollars per year, she said.

Mikells, who will be United's chief financial officer after November, spoke at an airlines investor conference in New York.

Airlines have been aggressively "unbundling," or charging for items that used to be free but were not used by all passengers, such as checked baggage and meals.

Skyrocketing fuel prices prompted that trend, but on Thursday there was already one sign that competition may push it back: Air Canada said it would stop charging for a second checked bag. It had not added a fee for the first checked bag.

Colo beef exports increase

State agriculture officials say Colorado beef and beef variety meat exports rose 81 percent in the first half of 2008 from the same period last year to reach $241 million, the highest level on record.

About 98 percent of those exports went to Mexico, Canada and Japan.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture says the state ranks second in the U.S. for exports of beef and beef variety meats. It says Colorado is the top supplier to Canada, the No. 2 supplier to Mexico and the No. 3 supplier to Japan.

Colo unemployment rises to 5.4 percent

State officials say Colorado's unemployment rate rose for the fourth straight month in August and now stands at 5.4 percent.

That was still lower than the nationwide unemployment rate of 6.1 percent in August, the highest level in five years.

The state Department of Labor and Employment said Friday the August rate rose two-tenths of a percentage point as job growth slowed. The jobless rate in August 2007 was 3.8 percent.

Seasonally adjusted figures show the number of Coloradans with jobs fell by 21,500 to just under 2.6 million in August. It's the largest one-month decline since 1976.