Joe Fisher

Capacity to move growing production of condensate and natural gasoline out of the Marcellus/Utica Shale region to diluent markets in Canada is being offered by Unity Pipeline Co. LLC, which is proposing a system of new pipeline, as well as pipeline to be converted from natural gas service.

Marathon Oil Corp. continued to raise its game in the Eagle Ford Shale during the third quarter, improving drilling times by 20% from a year ago and bringing drilling and completion costs down by 20%. The company still plans to exit the year with net production of about 100,000 boe/d from the South Texas play.

Linn Energy LLC has agreed to raise its offer for Berry Petroleum Co. by $600 million, reinvigorating the mega-deal while the partners await a decision from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

By 2016, 3.5 Bcf/d of new incremental U.S. pipeline capacity to Mexico will join another 1.9 Bcf/d of currently underutilized capacity, making for 5.4 Bcf/d of potential new U.S. exports of gas to Mexico, assuming pipeline development south of the border is able to keep up, Raymond James & Associates Inc. said in a note Monday.

Spectra Energy Corp. third quarter adjusted net income was $283 million (42 cents/share), up sharply from $179 million (27 cents/share) during the prior year quarter. Adjusted earnings per share were 7 cents above analyst expectations.

Occidental Chemical Corp. (OxyChem) and Mexichem S.A.B. de C.V. (Mexichem) have formed joint venture (JV) Ingleside Ethylene LLC to build a 1.2 billion-pound-per-year capacity ethylene cracker at the OxyChem plant in Ingleside, TX, along with pipelines and storage at Markham, TX, the partners said Thursday.

As expected, pipeline operators opened the taps on four projects to alleviate bottleneck constraints by providing more takeaway capacity from the gas-rich Marcellus Shale to markets in the Northeast, adding a total of 1.8 Bcf/d of capacity.

A one-two punch will help knock down some of the Marcellus Shale ethane glut.

Lone Star NGL LLC has started up the second natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionator at its Mont Belvieu, TX, facility. Lone Star Frac II is a 100,000 b/d fractionator that brings Lone Star’s total fractionation capacity at Mont Belvieu to 200,000 b/d. Lone Star is a joint venture of Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) and Regency Energy Partners LP. The fractionators receive NGLs from several sources, including Lone Star’s west Texas NGL pipelines and ETP’s Justice NGL pipeline. Volumes transported on Lone Star’s pipeline system and the ETP Justice pipeline continue to ramp up as shippers under long-term agreements with Lone Star and ETP increase their production from the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale, and other producing regions, the companies said.