Gathering
Sterling to Expand Centennial System
Sterling Energy Investments to expand the processing capacity and associated natural gas gathering pipeline infrastructure of its Centennial System in the northeastern DJ Basin to 220 MMcf/d to accommodate growing producer demand.
Sendero Places Permian Gas Processing System in Service
Sendero Midstream has commenced operations on a new gas processing system in New Mexico that includes more than 60 miles of pipeline and a processing plant with a capacity of 130 MMcf/d.
Iron Horse Gathering System Underway in SCOOP/STACK Play
Cardinal Midstream III is developing the Iron Horse System, a new natural gas gathering and processing system designed to serve producers working in Oklahoma’s SCOOP/STACK merge play.
WGL Midstream Invests $89 Million in Stonewall Gathering System
WGL Midstream, a WGL Holdings company, announced it exercised an option for an $89 million equity investment in the Stonewall Gas Gathering System, representing a 35% ownership stake. The system began operations in November and currently gathers 1 Bcf/d of natural gas daily from the Marcellus produ..
Feds Seek Limit on Methane Gas Flaring at Drilling Sites
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Friday proposed new rules to clamp down on oil companies that burn off natural gas on public land, arguing the effort will reduce waste and harmful methane emissions as part of President Barack Obama’s bid to curb climate change. Energy companies freq..
In the News: Enbridge Cutting 500 Jobs, Leaving 100 Unfilled
Enbridge is reducing its workforce by 5% as low oil prices continue to reverberate through the energy sector. The move affects 500 people at all levels of the company in the U.S. and Canada. The company also is leaving 100 positions unfilled. TransCanada has also been cutting staff, starting with it..
Countries Added to Shale Oil, Natural Gas Resource Assessment
EIA continues to expand its assessment of technically recoverable shale oil and shale natural gas resources around the world. The addition of four countries – Chad, Kazakhstan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – to a previous assessment covering 42 countries has resulted in a 13% increase in the global assessed total resource estimate for shale oil and a 4% increase for shale gas.
Companies Asking Oklahoma Judge to Toss Earthquake Lawsuit
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Two energy companies are asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit by an Oklahoma woman who claims she was injured in an earthquake caused by the injection of wastewater deep into the ground — a method used for decades by the industry to dispose of the chemical-laced byproduct of oil and gas production.
Montney shale patch flying below the radar
You really know business is tough when success is measured by suffering less than others. But so it goes as the North American oilpatch enters its second year of a precipitous downturn caused by OPEC deciding to no longer support global oil prices by restraining production at its Nov. 27, 2014 meeting.
Apache Resists Unsolicited Takeover Bid
Apache Corporation, a Houston-based oil and gas exploration company, says it has fended off an unsolicited takeover bid, and will continue to defend against follow up attempts to buy out the company. Bloomberg reported the news, and thus far the bidder has not been identified. The company’s shares jumped on the news, up more than 10% during midday trading Monday. Apache is worth about $18 billion, so if a takeover were to occur, it would be the largest for an independent oil and gas company this year.
Natural Gas Market Dynamics in the Northeast
Natural gas markets have gone topsy-turvy. Until recently, prices around the country were generally pretty similar, with gas costing a bit more in the Northeast, far from where it was produced on the Gulf of Mexico coast. But that reality has changed dramatically in the last few years.
With a Chill in the Air, Thoughts in New England Turn to Heating Bills
As winter approaches, the hot topic of conversation in the Northeast once again becomes the looming frigid temperatures and accompanying burdensome cost of heating homes and offices along with powering manufacturing plants. With this in mind, the Access Northeast project developers plan to upgrade existing pipeline facilities and market area storage assets in New England to deliver – on peak days – up to 1 Bcf/d of natural gas for electric-generation markets.
Why Does Firewood Cost so Much? Fracking's Part of It
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Northeasterners who are digging deeper into their pockets to pay for firewood this season can add a new scapegoat to the roster of usual market forces: fracking. Yep, a timber industry representative in New Hampshire said those hydraulic fracturing well sites in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale formation to suck natural gas out of the ground are using construction "mats" made of hardwood logs — think of the corduroy roads seen in sepia-toned photographs from the 1800s — to get heavy equipment over mucky ground, wetlands or soft soils.
Day Of Reckoning for US Shale Will Have To Wait
October has been billed as a pivotal month in which indebted shale companies would see their credit lines cut, precipitating a faster consolidation in the industry that would sow the seeds of a rebound.
Is Oil and Gas Fire Sale about to Start?
Much has been written about the mounting pile of debt for U.S. oil companies (not to mention the well-known Brazilian oil giant).
Study: No Fracking Bonanza for California's Monterey Shale
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A U.S. Geological Survey report out Tuesday downgrades the fracking potential of California's vast Monterey Shale oil deposits. The study is the latest to lower a 2011 federal energy estimate that billed the Monterey Shale as a game-changer for U.S. oil, with what was then estimated at 13.7 Bbbls of recoverable oil overall. Instead, the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) new study said, the most oil-rich portion of the giant shale formation holds just 21 MMbbls of oil that can be recovered by intensive methods, such as hydraulic fracturing, better-known as fracking.
North Dakota Taxable Sales Plummet as Rig Count Faulters
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's taxable sales and purchases dropped more than 16% during April, May and June compared to the same quarter a year ago because of a decline in activity in the western oil patch. It is only the second such quarterly decline since 2009, but officials say they're not surprised nor too concerned given the tremendous growth in taxable sales and purchases the state has experienced in recent years.
EIA Finds U.S. Propane Inventories Reach All-Time High
U.S. inventories of propane and propylene reached 97.7 million barrels as of September 11, the highest level in the 22 years that EIA has collected weekly propane inventory statistics. In the first six months of 2015, U.S. propane and propylene inventories were 24.3 million barrels higher on average compared to the same period in 2014. In the past year, nearly all of the increase in inventories occurred in the Gulf Coast region (PADD3).
Colorado's High Court to Decide if Cities Can Ban Fracking
DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether cities can ban hydraulic fracturing, stepping into a high-stakes battle over whether local governments can impose tougher oil and gas rules than the state. The court will hear cases from Longmont, where voters banned hydraulic fracturing in 2012, and Fort Collins, where voters approved a 5-year moratorium in 2013.
Partners Submit Application for 3-State Natural Gas Pipeline
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Four energy partners formally asked the federal government Friday for permission to build a 564-mile natural gas pipeline in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. The 348-page application was submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline is intended to deliver cleaner burning natural gas to the Southeast as utilities move away from coal-burning power plants amid tighter federal rules on pollution that contributes to climate change.
White House Opposes GOP Bill to Lift Oil Export Ban
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Tuesday it opposes a House Republican bill to lift the four-decade-old ban on crude oil exports. A decision on whether to end the ban should be made by the Commerce Department, not Congress, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. Earnest also took a shot at House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans pushing to end the oil export ban, which was imposed in the 1970s as the United States responded to an Arab oil embargo that sparked inflation and prompted long lines at gas stations.
World News: Algeria Reforms Laws to Attract Foreign Investment
A Today in Energy brief from the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Algeria is reforming its laws to attract foreign investment in hydrocarbons. Algeria is the third-largest oil producer in Africa, after Nigeria and Angola, and the largest natural gas producer in Africa. However, production of both oil and natural gas has declined over the past decade.
Editor's Notebook: Cheap Energy Brings Jobs Where There Were None
OK, I’m a sucker for natural gas. Maybe I’ve learned something these past 25 years that George Mitchell tried to explain: natural gas is the fuel of the future and can revitalize America. After I read this story off the Reuters news wire, can you blame me?
Strategy Report Points to Improved Safety, Smart Pigs
With liquids pipeline incidents down by half since 1999, even as their use to transport crude oil pipeline has increased, there is little doubt among experts about what has led to this success on the safety front – preventive maintenance and integrity management programs.
Royal Flush? West Texas Fracking Company Uses Toilet Water to Cut Cost
It is no secret that fracking companies across the United States have been turning over every rock in the supply chain looking for ways to cut costs and improve efficiency. That’s what the business requires in a downturn. But now Pioneer Natural Resources seems to be going a step further in the name of price cuts and efficiency. The firm is finding an efficient, if somewhat unconventional, source of water for use in its fracking operations – the neighbors’ toilets.
US Oil, Natural Gas rig Count Stands at 885
HOUSTON (AP) — Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States this week increased by one to 885. Houston-based Baker Hughes said Friday 674 rigs were seeking oil and 211 explored for natural gas. A year ago, 1,896 rigs were active. Among major oil- and gas-producing states, North Dakota and Oklahoma each gained three rigs and Alaska, California, Kansas and Wyoming each gained one. Texas lost six rigs, Pennsylvania declined by two and Colorado, Louisiana and West Virginia each lost one.
NAPCA Workshop Looks at Changing Energy Environment
</em>NAPCA held its annual one-day workshop Thursday in Houston as the industry struggles to find solutions amid market conditions that can be characterized as anything but certain. As one speaker, Dolty Cheramie, president of Pipe Exchange, put it, ““No CEO or anyone else has one single minute of experience in the market we are in today.” During his presentation, “A Look at the Oilpatch,” Cheramie didn’t pull any punches in what he saw a rough sledding for at least the next couple of years.
Local Fracking Bans Could Go Before Colorado High Court Soon
DENVER (AP) — Colorado's battle over who should regulate fracking could be on the fast track to the state Supreme Court. The Colorado Court of Appeals on Monday asked to bow out of lawsuits over Longmont's ban on fracking and a 5-year-moratorium in Fort Collins. The move would allow the Supreme Court to take the cases immediately, without waiting for the appeals court to hear arguments and make rulings. The higher court hasn't said if it will take the cases.
World News: China and Russia Begin Work On Power of Serbia Pipeline
Russia’s Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) have confirmed that construction is underway on the 4,000-km Power of Serbia Pipeline that will deliver up to 38 Bcma of gas to China. The first joint of pipe for the Chinese sector of the project was recently welded near the city of Heibe in the northern Heilongjiang Province bordering Russia, according to CNPC. Russia started building its section of the 2,500-mile eastern route last year. The pipeline is due to become fully operational in late 2017.
Key Issues Taken on at Pipeline Conference
Pipeline & Gas Journal’s 11th annual Pipeline Opportunities Conference brought in 400 attendees from throughout North America, all focused on getting the most up-to-date information regarding the oil and natural gas industry. In addition to a full day’s worth of conference presentations and roundtables, guests had ample time to network during the even held March 24 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Houston’s Galleria district.
- 1,000-Mile Pipeline Exit Plan by Hope Gas Alarms West Virginia Producers
- Valero Plans to Shut California Refinery, Takes $1.1 Billion Hit
- Three Killed, Two Injured in Accident at LNG Construction Site in Texas
- Greenpeace Ordered to Pay $667 Million to Energy Transfer Over Dakota Access Pipeline Protests
- Boardwalk’s Texas Gas Launches Open Season for 2 Bcf/d Marcellus-to-Louisiana Pipeline Expansion
- New Alternatives for Noise Reduction in Gas Pipelines
- Construction Begins on Ghana's $12 Billion Petroleum Hub, But Not Without Doubts
- Greenpeace Ordered to Pay $667 Million to Energy Transfer Over Dakota Access Pipeline Protests
- DOE Considers Cutting Over $1.2 Billion in Carbon Capture Project Funding
- Valero Plans to Shut California Refinery, Takes $1.1 Billion Hit
