Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. has entered a consent order and agreement (CO&A) with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) concerning drilling and hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) activities in an approximately nine-square-mile area in Susquehanna County, PA, which requires the company to provide a temporary water supply or treatment device to 13 homes. The area was identified by DEP because of concerns about the presence of methane in groundwater supplies. None of Cabot’s activities outside the nine-square-mile area are affected by the agreement, officials said. By taking these precautionary measures, Cabot and DEP “are assured that the safety and health of the residents in the area are fully protected while the investigation of causes of methane in the groundwater continues,” the Houston-based producer said. In a separate incident Cabot in October was allowed to resume hydrofracing operations in Susquehanna County after DEP said the company had complied with the terms of an order that was issued after a hydrofrac lubricant was spilled three times over a one-week period at a company drilling site (see Daily GPI, Oct. 20).

Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has completed a $46.4 million gas system upgrade to improve reliability and increase capacity in the South King County area in Washington state. The project began in 2004 and has involved various station and related upgrades in addition to laying new pipeline, said a spokesperson for the combination PSE utility. PSE said it completed installation of the final 6.8 miles of 16.3 miles of 16-inch diameter pipeline that spans from PSE’s limit station in Kent, WA, to a tie-in point in Federal Way, WA. The six-year project also included the construction of two limit stations and a district regulator in Kent. PSE first built the new Sequoia district regulator and installed 5.25 miles of 16-inch diameter pipeline between the district regulator and PSE’s gate station in Black Diamond, followed by other station and pipeline construction projects that were spread over another four years. Gate and limit stations regulate the pressure of the gas.

Thanks to a recent deal with Chevron, Spain’s Iberdrola will be able to supply the U.S. market with up to approximately 35.3 Bcf of natural gas annually via Cheniere‘s Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas terminal in Louisiana, the company said. The deal, which took effect last month, allows Iberdrola to unload one methane tanker a month in the United States. The gas is moved through the Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline. The 133-mile pipeline, which transports gas from Sabine Pass to multiple pipeline interconnects, was authorised last month to increase its maximum allowable operating pressure from 0.72 to 0.8 design (see Daily GPI, Oct. 9). It has 3.2 Bcf/d of capacity, which has been fully subscribed for 20 years by Chevron and TOTAL (see Daily GPI, June 23).

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