Pipeline
In The News: Obama Gives Final Approval to Cove Point LNG Terminal
The Obama administration on May 7 granted final approval to a $3.8 billion natural gas export facility in Calvert County, MD – the first gas export site on the East Coast. Environmentalists sued within hours to stop the project.
Embracing Uncertainty: Reducing Risk by Working Together
It’s trite but true: The only thing constant is change. Especially in our industry, it seems. There’s always a new technology or tool to consider or a proposed regulation to ponder. Access to capital restricts and relaxes. Individual rig or well performance can vary widely. Even the location of our best prospects can confound us: North Dakota?
Southcross Holding Open Season To Transport Y-Grade
Southcross Energy Partners announced the launch of a binding open season to solicit commitments for its proposed Y-Grade pipeline. Once complete, the pipeline will allow Southcross to offer transportation services of Y-Grade from a point near Woodsboro, TX to a point near Robstown. The pipeline will have access to the Y-Grade pipeline of Southcross’ holding company that runs from Pettus to Robstown.
Transco Seeks Regulatory Approval for Dalton Expansion Project
Williams announced that Transco has filed an application with FERC for its Dalton Expansion project, which would support providing Marcellus gas to the Southeast for electricity generation and local natural gas distribution.
Enable Gas Transmission Pursues Oklahoma Expansion
Enable Midstream Partners subsidiary, Enable Gas Transmission, held an open season for interested parties to obtain firm interstate natural gas transportation capacity resulting from an expansion of EGT’s Line AD in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Expansion capacity will provide enhanced transportation options from receipt points in the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) region, as well as the Woodford and Cana Basins, the Granite Wash and the Colony Wash supply basins in Oklahoma.
Plains All American/Delek Logistics Form JV To Develop Pipeline
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. and Delek Logistics Partners LP have formed Caddo Pipeline LLC, a 50/50 joint venture to develop the Caddo Pipeline. The 80-mile, 12-inch pipeline will run between Longview, TX and Shreveport, LA.
Midstream: Changing Routes, Emphasis for Energy Renaissance
As global oil prices were still falling and various parts of the U.S. oil/natural gas space were reassessing plans for 2015, the American Petroleum Institute (API) was reorganizing to better service one of the industry’s growth sectors – midstream. API said it was going to provide more attention to “pipelines and processing facilities” that connect oil and gas production with markets. The key is infrastructure, according to the globally recognized Washington, DC-based trade and standards-setting group.
Rangeland Lands Anchor Shipper for RIO Pipeline
Rangeland Energy has executed a long-term agreement with a subsidiary of Delek US Holdings, Inc. to be an anchor shipper of crude oil on the Rangeland Integrated Oil Pipeline (RIO Pipeline). The pipeline will connect production from the Delaware Basin to the crude oil market center in Midland, TX. Delek Logistics Partners LP, Delek US’s logistics arm, will own 33% of the RIO Pipeline and supporting terminals.
The Shale Gas Revolution and Effects on the Northeast Gas Market
Without a doubt, the biggest factor impacting the U.S. gas market is the development of shale gas in the Marcellus Shale play, located in northern Appalachia and the Alleghenies. The shale gas revolution in the U.S. – specifically in Pennsylvania and West Virginia – is nothing short of a revolution for the entire country.
Making the Best of Evolving Midstream Infrastructure
The changing oil production and consumption landscape in North America has led to new developments in the infrastructure that brings oil to market – the pipelines, gathering systems, storage facilities, rail networks and marine-based transport networks that comprise the industry’s midstream oil infrastructure.
ONEOK, Fermaca Plan Gas Pipeline from West Texas to Mexico
ONEOK Partners, L.P. has a 50-50 joint venture with a subsidiary of Fermaca Infrastructure B.V., a Mexico City-based natural gas infrastructure company, to build a pipeline transporting gas from the Permian Basin in West Texas to Mexico. The Roadrunner Gas Transmission project extends from ONEOK Partners' ONEOK WesTex Transmission gas pipeline system at Coyanosa, TX, west to a new international border-crossing connection at the U.S. and Mexico border near San Elizario, TX, where it will connect with Fermaca's Tarahumara Gas Pipeline.
Columbia Pipeline Group Plans Infrastructure to Bring Gas To Growing Markets
The Columbia Pipeline Group has embarked upon a strategic program to build pipeline infrastructure and compression equipment to deliver natural gas from production areas to homes and businesses throughout the Midwest and eastern U.S. The proposed Leach XPress project involves 160 miles of natural gas pipeline and compression facilities in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia’s northern panhandle. The $1.4 billion investment will transport 1.5 Bcf from the heart of the Appalachian supply basin to consumers served by the Columbia Gas and Columbia Gulf pipeline systems.
Pemex/First Reserve to Develop Energy Infrastructure Projects in Mexico
Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and First Reserve announced a US$1 billion agreement to mutually invest in energy infrastructure for Mexico. The first of the investments includes the 744-km natural gas Los Ramones pipeline that is comprised of three sections and is being implemented in two phases. Construction of the projects has already begun with full commercial operations expected in mid-2016. The companies are also planning large-scale infrastructure opportunities.
Editor's Notebook: Crude Exports More Important Than Keystone
I was driving to work this morning on Kamikaze Highway, officially known as I-10, and switched on the 9 a.m. news when a story so outlandish grabbed my attention, nearly forcing me into another lane of traffic, in which case I could not have written this column. The story, reported by Fox News, cited an increase in President Obama’s popularity that it attributed to lower gasoline prices. Say what? He being responsible for lower gas prices is like saying the API is non-political. It’s just not so, am I right, Jack Gerard?
Notebook: Hey, Gov. Cuomo, Fracking Ban Not Working For Rest of State
Gov. Andrew Cuomo: Get your butt out of Albany and go see how the rest of your state lives. Or you might not have much of a state left. One memory that stands out from my 1970s tenure as a reporter in New York’s Southern Tier is that of an economy stuck in reverse. Broome County centers around Binghamton, a city of 47,000 that has lost nearly half its population since the 1950s.
Billions of Barrels of Oil Discovered Near London But There's A Catch
A small British oil company has found a bonanza of potentially billions of barrels of oil beneath a field near London’s Gatwick Airport. The only problem is how much of the oil is accessible. UK Oil and Gas Investments (UKOG) said April 9 that 3,000 feet of exploratory drilling at Wytch Farm in the Weald Basin, a rural area just north of the airport, discovered a “world-class potential resource.” The area is now referred to as “Britain’s Dallas.” It was the deepest well dug in the region in three decades.
Nimble by Nature: Pipeline Market in Transition
In an environment that is exhibiting disruption and change, being nimble is a necessity. The concept of being flexible rather than rigid in the face of change is one that for many industry participants is counterintuitive. Bruce Lee might have said it best when he suggested, “Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
TransCanada Delays Energy East, Reviews Terminal Siting
TransCanada postponed the building of its Energy East pipeline project and decided against building a marine and associated tank terminal in Cacouna, Québec. The company said alternative terminal options are under review, and that Québec and New Brunswick refineries would continue to be connected directly to Energy East.
In the News: Price Declines Lower Tax Revenues in Production States
The Energy Information Administration reported March 12 that the decline in spot oil prices in the last half of 2014 and first month of 2015 has reduced oil and natural gas production tax revenues in some of the largest oil- and natural gas-producing states.
Can Shale Formations Enable U.S. to Become Oil Exporter?
In recent years, the technological advances in recovering hydrocarbons trapped in tight formations, like shale, using unconventional drilling methods (horizontal drilling in conjunction with multi-stage hydraulic fracturing) have made U.S. oil production grow dramatically.
Crude Oil Export Ban: Dated Policy with Real-Life Implications
If you are lucky enough to have grown up in Texas, you are all too familiar with how popular culture, particularly Hollywood, has glamorized the life of a wildcatter or roughneck. The movie Giant depicts James Dean on a windswept Texas countryside, sopping head to toe in newly discovered oil. While maybe a compelling drama, as a Texas Railroad Commissioner, I can tell you this is far from reality.
Texas Permiting Rules Post-Denbury Green
The Texas Railroad Commission adopted new rules in December concerning pipeline permit applications involving 16 Texas Administrative Code §3.70. It has been three years since the state Supreme Court’s opinion in Denbury Green, which took a dim view of the commission’s “check the box” rules regarding Form T-4 pipeline permit application which automatically created common carrier status to the pipeline operator.
Falling Oil Prices Exert Influence on Utility Construction
The free-falling oil price caught many observers off guard. Historically, crude oil and natural gas prices tend to stay in alignment as the imbedded energy content is the defining characteristic. Since 2010, when the price of these commodities separated, many observers anticipated upward volatility in the price of gas to realign it with the price of oil. Few analysts anticipated oil falling to realign with low-cost natural gas.
Forget About Keystone XL Canadian Crude Is Coming
While Congress and the White House continue to wrangle over the Keystone XL pipeline extension, the oil industry is taking matters into its own hands. Markets are primed for an influx of Canadian crude oil, but with pipeline transport off the table for the foreseeable future, producers have built alternative modes to meet the demand. The problem is, recent disasters have soured legislators and environmentalists on road and rail for moving oil.
Pipeline Moving Canadian Crude to Gulf Coast Refineries Starts
Crude from the Canadian oil sands deposits gained an additional major outlet in the U.S. when the joint venture of Enbridge, Inc. and Enterprise Products Partners L.P. completed construction of its Cushing-to-Texas pipeline and started deliveries in December to Gulf Coast refineries. The new pipeline’s operations and routes are very similar to TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline project for bringing oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast.
EnLink Landman Follows Family Tradition
Recently EnLink Midstream invited me out to West Texas to see my first pipeline spread – the Martin County Extension Pipeline. On the way to the line we stopped by the Deadwood gas plant where I met Chris Coleman, EnLink Midstream’s senior landman. He was amiable, genuine and welcoming, even letting me ride shotgun in his work truck, which I had to jump to get into. As we drove across the flat Texas land, kicking up a flurry of red dirt, he began telling me about his job.
Cathodic Shielding Effects Tested: PipePillo vs. Foam
Perhaps one of the most important safe guards put in place to maintain the long-term integrity of buried pipelines is a cathodic protection system. Cathodic protection (CP) is an anti- corrosion technique used to prevent the corrosion of metals such as steel and iron in electrolytically conducting environments such as seawater and soils containing water.
Wood Mackenzie: Oil Market Concerns Inescapable in 2015
Global consulting company Wood Mackenzie has drawn on the knowledge and expertise of senior analysts in compiling a new report, Horizons: What To Look For In 2015. In discussing the report, Paul McConnell, principal analyst for Global Trends at Wood Mackenzie, pointed out that oil market concerns will be inescapable in 2015. “With no sign that OPEC is reconsidering its decision to leave production targets unchanged, the impetus falls on non-OPEC producers to limit supply growth and bring the market back into balance,” he said.
Latest Price Shock Offers Some Midstream Bright Spots
The price of oil may have fallen to its lowest level in six years, but this “price shock” is different than the 2008-’09 variety, according to analysts at Pace Global. “The current low-price situation is likely to persist for several years unless geopolitical events shift the market psychology from one of surplus to one of shortage,” Jim Diemer, vice president and head Pace Global-Siemens’ Energy Consulting Company, told PG&J.
Boom Increases Contractors Earth-Moving Business
With a name like Steele in Pennsylvania, you’d expect Steele Construction, Inc. owner Bill Steele to specialize in structural steel building or own a foundry. Instead, he’s one of the premier builders of timber-framed homes in the state. As things changed and housing starts dipped during the recession beginning in 2007, Steele expanded his business on the strength of the Marcellus Shale natural gas boom. “We were lucky enough to get into a gas contract, and now our company is pretty much evenly split between the building of heavy timber frame and moving dirt,” said Steele.
- Phillips 66 to Shut LA Oil Refinery, Ending Major Gasoline Output Amid Supply Concerns
- FERC Sides with Williams in Texas-Louisiana Pipeline Dispute with Energy Transfer
- U.S. Appeals Court Blocks Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Pipeline Permits
- ConocoPhillips Eyes Sale of $1 Billion Permian Assets Amid Marathon Acquisition
- Valero Considers All Options, Including Sale, for California Refineries Amid Regulatory Pressure
- U.S. LNG Export Growth Faces Uncertainty as Trump’s Tariff Proposal Looms, Analysts Say
- Marathon Oil to Lay Off Over 500 Texas Workers Ahead of ConocoPhillips Merger
- Valero Considers All Options, Including Sale, for California Refineries Amid Regulatory Pressure
- Another Major U.S. Oil Refinery Shutting Down as Lyondell Confirms Houston Closure
- Chevron CEO Wirth Under Fire as Hess Deal Delay Drags Down Stock Performance
