American Midstream Partners LP has acquired a 66.7% interest in the 100-mile Okeanos natural gas gathering system in the Gulf of Mexico from its general partner, part of bundle of deals in which it paid $225 million (see Daily GPI, April 26). The Denver-based partnership, financed by ArcLight Capital Partners LP, had said it purchased interests in offshore and onshore infrastructure, including the Destin gas pipeline, the Tri-States and Wilprise natural gas liquids pipelines. The Okeanos pipe, with 1 Bcf/d of total capacity, connects two platforms and one lateral, terminating at the Destin Main Pass 260 platform in Mississippi Canyon blocks. Enbridge Inc. is the minority interest holder.

Plains All American Pipeline LP unit Pine Prairie Energy Center LLC has entered into a 10-year firm storage service agreement with Cheniere Energy Partners LP‘s Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC. Pine Prairie will provide 8 Bcf of firm natural gas storage capacity to Cheniere beginning in 2018 to serve the needs of the Sabine Pass Liquefaction facility in Louisiana. “With this new agreement, we will be able to more effectively manage the load swings as we construct and operate our liquefaction trains at Sabine Pass,” said Corey Grindal, Cheniere vice president of supply.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has released a favorable Environmental Assessment (EA) for Eastern Shore Gas Co.‘s proposed White Oak Expansion and System Reliability projects in Pennsylvania and Delaware, saying completion of the projects with appropriate mitigation measures would not significantly affect the environment [CP15-18, CP15-498]. The White Oak Expansion would enable Eastern Shore to provide 45,000 Dth/d of firm transportation to the Garrison Energy Center in Dover, DE through the installation of 3.3 miles of 16-inch diameter looping pipeline (Daleville Loop) and 2.1 miles of 16-inch diameter looping pipeline (Kemblesville Loop) in Chester County, PA, and 3,550 hp of additional compression at the Delaware City Compressor Station. The System Reliability Project would decrease the likelihood of brown outs during high demand months through the installation of 2.5 miles of 16-inch diameter looping pipeline (Porter Road Loop) in New Castle County, DE, and 7.6 miles of 16-inch diameter looping pipeline (Dover Loop) in Kent County, DE, and associated facilities. FERC will accept comments on the projects through May 25.

Koch Pipeline Co. LP is evaluating the restart this year of an existing crude oil pipeline system located in multiple Eaglebine Shale counties in Texas. The potential restart includes pipeline, storage and truck unloading stations in north central Burleson and eastern Lee counties. Last year Koch Pipeline restarted a 56-mile section of this system, which included storage and a truck unloading facility in south central Bastrop County, TX.

Three finalists have been selected by Mexico’s Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) to construct and operate the Empalme Gas Pipeline Branch in the state of Sonora. The $35 million project will connect the Sasabe-Guaymas and Guaymas-El Oro pipelines with about 12 miles of 16- and 20-inch diameter pipeline. It is to have capacity of 226 MMcf/d and will serve two new combined-cycle power plants in Sonora: Empalme I (770 MW) and Empalme II (791 MW). The three finalists are Arendal, S. de R.L. de C.V.; Gasoducto de Aguaprieta, S. de R.L. de C.V.; and Gas Natural Del Noroeste S.A. de C.V. According to a CFE data sheet for the project, the target date for a contract award is May 2 with commercial operation expected in May 2017.