GREENSBURG — FirstEnergy and Allegheny Energy said Tuesday they have filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking approval of their proposed merger.

The companies said they will seek state regulatory approval in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland this month and in Virginia later in the year. The joint statement said the merger is expected to close in the first half of next year.

FirstEnergy announced in February that it was buying Allegheny Energy in a $4.7 billion stock deal that would result in a company made up of 10 utilities serving 6.1 million customers from Ohio to New Jersey.

Several Allegheny Energy shareholders have filed suit seeking the block the takeover, saying it undervalues the stock they own.

Oil prices fell to near $76 a barrel today as investors weighed eroding global crude demand against the effects of a fragile euro.By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for June delivery was down 25 cents to $76.12 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June contract fell 43 cents to settle at $76.37 on Tuesday.The Paris-based International Energy Agency said in its monthly oil market report that global oil demand was expected to rise less than previously expected in 2010. The IEA cut its forecast by a daily 220,000 barrels, to 86.4 million barrels a day, but still 1.62 million barrels a day higher than last year.

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted unanimously to peer into Federal Reserve decision-making Tuesday, authorizing an examination of the central bank's emergency lending to financial institutions in the months surrounding the 2008 financial crisis.Separately, Democrats rejected a Republican plan to end the government's support of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — a financial rescue that now stands at $145 billion. Instead, the Senate voted to instruct the Treasury to study and recommend how the government can end its relationship with the two housing finance companies.