Enable Midstream Partners LP has completed and brought online the first phase of its Nesson Crude & Produced Water Gathering System. The pipeline serves Bakken Shale wells in Williams and Mountrail counties in North Dakota. Construction of the first segment began in July. It provides services to producer XTO Energy Inc. and has a maximum throughput of 1,800 b/d. As of May 7, crude oil has been flowing into the downstream delivery pipeline system. Phase two construction began in April and is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter. Maximum throughput for the entire system is expected to be 30,000 b/d, with more than 160 miles of pipeline and 69 origin points to gather crude oil and produced water.

Researchers from Oregon State University and the University of Cincinnati claim that people living near active natural gas wells may be exposed to pollutants at higher levels than the federal government considers safe for lifetime exposure. In a study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the researchers said unconventional drilling methods emit pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, some of which are linked to an increased risk of cancer and respiratory ailments. The study took place in Carroll County, OH, last year, where researchers collected air samples near active Utica Shale wells. They found that the highest-risk areas were those nearest wells, while others more than a mile away posed about 30% less risk. The research was prompted by Carroll Concerned Citizens, a local group that helped coordinate research efforts with landowners (see Shale Daily, Dec. 31, 2013). The study was funded by the federal government’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

El Paso Natural Gas Co. LLC (EPNG) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to amend its presidential permit allowing natural gas exports at a U.S.-Mexico border crossing near Naco, AZ, in order to keep up with the times and increased volumes of gas moving to Mexico. The pipeline is seeking a definitive maximum export capacity of 56,900 Mcf/d at its Monument 90 Crossing. The crossing’s original presidential permit was issued in 1940 and was amended in 1967 to allow the export of 14,300 Mcf/d “plus additional daily volumes, on a best efforts basis, as requested by the customer,” EPNG told FERC [CP15-493]. The revised volume requested is equivalent to the maximum delivery capacity of the upstream Monument 90 meter station. No construction or modification to facilities is proposed, the Kinder Morgan Inc. pipeline said.

Twin Eagle Sand Logistics LLC, a subsidiary of Twin Eagle Management LLC, has landed its first 130-car frack sand unit train at an industrial rail terminal in Texas at the edge of the Eagle Ford Shale. Houston-based Twin Eagle said that the frack sand train, one of the largest to ever land in the Eagle Ford, was off-loaded at the Mission Rail Park in Elmendorf, TX, — which is located along the Union Pacific Railway — using the company’s new 60 million pound frack sand silo system, which the company said was also one of the largest in the nation. According to Twin Eagle, the silo system is scaled to house up to 300 railcars worth of frack sand, and can load a truck in less than two minutes. Twin Eagle has facilities at the Laredo Terminal in the South Eagle Ford, the Evans Terminal near Evans, CO, which serves the Denver-Julesburg Basin, and the Powder River Basin Terminals in Douglas, WY. A terminal near Big Springs, TX, is under development. According to the company, its current terminals can collectively control more than 900 railcar spaces, with nearly 50,000 tons of storage capacity.

Connecticut Natural Gas Corp. (CNGC) has started construction of its largest project in 30 years: a 10-mile expansion of a natural gas main into the Town of East Hampton, CT. CNGC, a subsidiary of UIL Holdings Corp., said the new gas main would serve nine schools and municipal buildings in East Hampton, reach all of the town’s major businesses and provide the option of gas service to more than 400 residences and businesses along the pipeline’s path. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy signed CES legislation, which is designed to expand the state’s gas distribution system, in July 2013 (see Daily GPI, July 11, 2013; June 18, 2013). One month earlier, three utilities in the state — CNGC, the Southern Connecticut Gas Co. and the Yankee Gas Services Co., now Eversource Energy — submitted a joint gas expansion plan with Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Collectively, expansions by the three utilities are expected to add 280,000 gas customers over the next 10 years.