The national foreclosure rate is now one for every 440 households.
Nevada has the highest foreclosure rate in the nation.
- ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer
Jobless rate hits 5.6 percent
The state's jobless rate hit a five-year high in January.
The unemployment rate vaulted to 5.6 percent, up from 4.8 percent in December and 3.8 percent the same time a year ago, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission reported Wednesday. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted.
The U.S. jobless rate was 8.5 percent in January.
The last time Oklahoma recorded a higher jobless rate occurred in January 2004, when it hit 5.8 percent.
The state's seasonally adjusted rate rose to 5.0 percent up from a revised 4.6 percent in December, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Total nonfarm employment for Oklahoma dropped by 31,800 jobs over the month but gained 6,300 jobs over the year.
Employment in the seven-county Tulsa metro area contracted by 9,200 jobs in January. The metro area had a 3,000-job gain over the year.
- LAURIE WINSLOW World Staff Writer
RAM Energy records $138 million loss
RAM Energy Resources Inc. suffered a $138 million net loss last year despite record oil and gas production levels, the Tulsa-based company reported Thursday.
RAM produced 2.6 million barrels of oil equivalent in oil, gas and natural gas liquids, according to the earnings report. The production total was 1.4 million barrels higher than in 2007.
The steep decline in commodity prices, however, forced RAM to take a $282 million accounting write-down on the value of its assets.
RAM was hit hardest in its fourth quarter, when the mark-to-market impairment was figured into the books. The company posted a $160 million net loss for the three months ending Dec. 31.
- ROD WALTON World Staff Writer
SemGroup LP to transfer unit
March could prove decisive for SemGroup LP as it shifts or sells off many of its asphalt assets, fine-tunes a possible reorganization plan and awaits the U.S. Examiner's report on why the Tulsa-based energy company's finances collapsed last summer.
A Delaware bankruptcy judge Thursday approved SemGroup's settlement to transfer its asphalt unit, SemMaterials, to public subsidiary SemGroup Energy Partners, or SGLP. SemGroup tried unsuccessfully to find bidders for SemMaterials.
The deal could be completed by the end of this month.
SemGroup was forced into Chapter 11 protection after company traders lost $2.4 billion in margins on oil futures transactions.
SemGroup has until March 19 to exercise its exclusive rights to file a Chapter 11 reorganization plan with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan L. Shannon's court. Other interested parties can join in with their own plans after that unless the company seeks an extension.
Earlier this week, SemGroup CEO Terry Ronan wrote a memo to employees indicating that the privately held company might emerge from bankruptcy in the third quarter. The reorganized SemGroup could return as a publicly traded entity focused on its SemCrude segment, he said.
- ROD WALTON World Staff Writer
-----
To see more of the Tulsa World, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tulsaworld.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, Tulsa World, Okla.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
NYSE:MAN, NASDAQ-NMS:AAON, NASDAQ-NMS:RAME, NASDAQ-NMS:SGLP,
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
