Joe Fisher

The environmental virtues of cheap, abundant and clean-burning natural gas from shale plays are offset somewhat by methane emissions that occur during gas production and transport — but not so much as to sound alarms for Duke University researchers who have studied natural gas and climate change issues.

Frontier Midstream Solutions LLC said Alpha Crude Connector LLC (ACC) is developing a 400-mile crude oil pipeline with multiple truck racks and more than 300,000 bbl of storage capacity in the northern Delaware Basin of southeastern New Mexico and West Texas. Initial capacity is to be 100,000 b/d serving multiple delivery points and accessing area refineries, rail outlets and major downstream pipelines, Frontier said. ACC is expected to file for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authority to operate as a common carrier pipeline, with an open season expected in June. Completion of the project is expected during the second half of 2015. ACC is a joint venture of Frontier and Concho Resources Inc., which has struck a long-term transportation agreement with ACC.

In Texas up to $7.7 million in financial incentives is being made available toward the purchase or lease of new natural gas vehicles (NGV) powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) or propane, and electric vehicles, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) announced.

Over the last five months, the number of horizontal drilling rigs targeting oil in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico has climbed by more than five dozen, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), marking a steep ramp-up in activity.

FERC on Thursday issued an environmental assessment (EA) on the Cove Point Liquefaction Project on the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County, MD, and issued a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) on the Downeast LNG import project to be located in Washington County, ME. In both cases, the projects were found by Commission staff to pose little harm if recommended mitigation measures are followed.

During the first quarter Penn Virginia Corp. (PVA) set a quarterly oil production record, thanks to a 15% increase in output from its Eagle Ford Shale operations as it continues to grow and delineate its South Texas acreage.

Minor earthquakes blamed on drilling waste disposal wells have been shaking up small towns overlying the Barnett Shale of North Texas for a while now. On Monday, state lawmakers put their ears to the ground during the first hearing of a subcommittee formed on the matter, hearing from local mayors, academic, environmental, regulatory and industry representatives.

The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas received 43 bids from companies and investors interested in obtaining state leases during its latest Cook Inlet and Alaska Peninsula oil and gas lease sales. Winning bidders have 10 years to explore and potentially develop the leased acreage. The division received 40 bids from eight bidders on 35 tracts encompassing 114,203 acres in the Cook Inlet sale area. It received three bids from two bidders on three tracts encompassing 10,280 acres in the Alaska Peninsula sale area. Winning bonus bids totaled $5.35 million for the Cook Inlet sale and $51,400 for the Alaska Peninsula sale. “This year’s lease sale results show continued optimism among investors about the hydrocarbon resource potential of these two regions, and that state-owned acreage is considered highly prospective for oil and gas development,” said Division of Oil and Gas Director Bill Barron. “The sale results also demonstrate continued growth in the market potential for Cook Inlet oil and gas.”

There should be enough power to go around this summer across the various regions of the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC). But Texas could be squeezed if peak demand hits sooner than anticipated new generating capacity comes online. Also, as natural gas accounts for a larger portion of generating capacity across power grids, systems are having to adjust, NERC said Wednesday.