Chevron paying $46 million to settle flap over U.S. production royalties By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks rose despite bearish natural gas inventory data on Thursday, as investors kept an eye on gains in the broad market during the holiday-shortened session. Natural gas futures erased their earlier gains Thursday, heading lower as the Energy Information Administration data showed a smaller-than-expected drop in U.S. inventories last week. Natural gas stockpiles fell 166 billion cubic feet in the week ended Dec. 18, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones had expected a drop of more than 170 billion cubic feet. After the data, January natural gas futures lost 0.7% to $5.78 per million British thermal units. On the plus side on the economic front, first-time claims for state unemployment benefits fell a seasonally adjusted 28,000 to 452,000 in the week ended Dec. 19, hitting the lowest level since September 2008, the Labor Department reported. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index (OSX 197.19, +0.26, +0.13%) added 0.4% to 198, while the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index (XNG 553.97, +2.62, +0.48%) rose 0.5% to 554 and the NYSE Arca Oil Index (XOI 1,074, +3.00, +0.28%) gained 0.4% to 1,075. The stock market closes at 1 p.m. Eastern and will reopen on Monday, Dec. 28. Shares of Chevron Corp. (CVX 77.16, +0.12, +0.16%) rose 0.3% to $77.26 as Exxon Mobil (XOM 68.57, +0.31, +0.45%) added 8 cents to $68.34. Both oil majors are part of the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU 10,508, +41.64, +0.40%) , which rose 25 points. Among stocks in the spotlight, a Chevron executive confirmed that a plant to produce liquefied natural gas in Angola will cost about $9 billion, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report. Separately, Chevron said it and affiliates agreed to pay $45.6 million to settle charges they underpaid production royalities on federal and Indian leases, according to the Department of Justice late Wednesday. The settlement puts to rest allegations that Chevron companies systematically under reported the value of natural gas that they took from federal and Indian leases from March 1988 to November 2008. BP under scrutiny for Alaska spills Also on the regulatory front this week, federal and Alaska investigators are examining BP Plc (BP 58.26, +0.35, +0.60%) after two recent oil spills -- a new black eye for the company, which pleaded guilty to a U.S. government criminal charge two years ago over its management of oil fields in the state. The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating a large oil spill that occurred Nov. 29 at a BP pipeline on Alaska's North Slope, and the agency is working with the FBI and state agencies to determine the circumstances that led to the spill, said EPA spokesman Mark MacIntyre. The EPA's investigation is both civil and criminal in nature, MacIntyre said. "There's a broad umbrella of investigation going on," MacIntyre told Dow Jones on Tuesday. The investigation follows a spill last month that sent more than 1,000 barrels of crude and water pouring over 8,400 square feet of snow-covered tundra. The spill, most of which has been cleaned up, occurred after a BP pipeline burst under pressure from ice that had built up inside, according to state authorities.

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