Joe Fisher

A unit of Southern California Telephone & Energy (SCT&E) has acquired land on the Calcasieu Ship Channel in Louisiana for development of a $2.4 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction and export terminal. The project joins about a dozen others in the Pelican State to export liquefied domestic natural gas.

The city council of Denton, TX, has put the brakes on drilling within the Barnett Shale town, at least until Sept. 9, while city staff and council reconsider drilling rules in light of numerous citizen complaints about drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) activity harming their health and quality of life. No new drilling permits are to be issued while the ordinance is in effect.

A unit of Germany’s BASF and Norway-based Yara plan to construct a world-scale ammonia plant at BASF’s existing site in Freeport, TX, the companies said.

Too much information (TMI) from the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS)? Not a chance. Activity in the Louisiana-Mississippi play continues to gather pace, and analysts can’t wait to hear more about well results from producers there, Goodrich Petroleum Corp., for instance, which these days is pretty much all about the TMS.

After decades of attempts to commercialize its vast North Slope natural gas reserves, Alaska is on the cusp of years more work. But now, producer, pipeline and state interests are aligned; there’s a mandate from lawmakers to get a project done; and a real plan has begun to take shape.

Brutal cold during the first quarter drove throughput on Spectra Energy Partners pipelines to record levels, and some of that pipe was put in the ground only last year, just in time, Spectra Energy Corp. CEO Greg Ebel said Wednesday.

Regency Energy Partners LP plans to add a 200 MMcf/d cryogenic processing plant and natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline at its Dubberly facility in North Louisiana that would accept gas from Regency’s recently completed Dubberly gathering trunkline. The residue outlet for the facility would be the Regency Intrastate Gas System. A 160-mile, eight- and 10-inch diameter NGL pipeline would run from Dubberly to fractionation facilities with initial capacity of 25,000 b/d and expandable via additional pump stations. The projects are expected to cost $260 million and be completed by mid-2015. “Strong drilling around our facilities in the richer Cotton Valley play is driving significant volume growth,” said Regency Chief Commercial Officer Jim Holotik. “This expansion will allow us to provide incremental processing solutions and create an alternative outlet for newly-produced NGLs from the region.”

East Texas and Eagle Ford Shale players Sabine Oil & Gas LLC and Forest Oil Corp. announced an all-stock merger that will create a Houston-based publicly traded company with acreage also in the Granite Wash, Permian and Arkoma basins.

Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) units Houston Pipe Line Co. LP (HPL) and Oasis Pipeline LP have signed 15-year agreements with Mexcio’s Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) to provide 930,000 MMBtu/d of natural gas transportation services. ETP will utilize its existing pipelines and will construct a 24-inch diameter pipeline from HPL’s pipeline located near Edinburg, TX, to a new international border crossing near McAllen, TX (Edinburg Extension). ETP will also construct 51 miles of 36-inch diameter pipeline from its Robstown pipeline system in Nueces County, TX, to its facilities in Live Oak County, TX (Nueces Crossover). The Edinburgh Extension and Nueces Crossover are expected to be in service during the fourth quarter of this year and first quarter of 2015, respectively. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved the border crossing facilities (see Daily GPI,March 20). It was recently reported that CFE plans to seek bids for five natural gas pipelines in the northern portion of the country (see Daily GPI,April 22).