The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff said it will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Golden Pass LNG Terminal and Pipeline Project, owned by ExxonMobil. The proposed facilities would consist of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and interconnecting pipelines near Sabine Pass, TX, 10 miles south of Port Arthur; with a 1 Bcf/d capacity, expandable to 2 Bcf/d, targeted for late 2008. ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum have signed an agreement to supply 15.6 million tons a year of LNG (2 Bcf/d) to the United States from Qatar for 25 years. The proposed project joined the FERC pre-filing process in November 2003. The proposed facility mirrors another ExxonMobil proposal, the Vista del Sol project on the Texas coast near Corpus Christi, which entered the pre-filing process at FERC in January of this year. The Commission’s notice earlier this week follows on a notice of environmental review and scoping issued by FERC in January. It offers a final opportunity for parties, including other government agencies to submit comments on the project’s environmental impact.

Indicative of the fastest growing area in the nation and one of the fastest growing utilities for the past 10 years, Las Vegas, NV-based Southwest Gas Corp. Thursday marked the connection of its 500,000th customer hook-up in its southern Nevada region. It was only three years ago that the natural gas utility connected its 400,000th meter. Marking 50 years of service to what was once a sparsely populated, scruffy desert town, Southwest Gas said it took its first 30 years (1984) to hit the 100,000-meter mark, but the most recent milestones have come every three or our years since 1990. Serving 1.5 million meters in eastern remote areas of California and much of Arizona, in addition to Nevada, Southwest’s southern Nevada unit has led its overall growth, adding an average of more than 3,000 customers each month for the first nine months of this year.

The Houston Exploration Co. bought about 79 Bcfe of Gulf of Mexico gas reserves in two asset packages on Wednesday from an undisclosed company for a total of about $145 million. “These properties are a great fit with our existing Gulf of Mexico operations,” said CEO William G. Hargett. “They are within our geophysical surveys, produce primarily gas, represent high working interests, offer significant drilling upside, and we will operate most of them.” The first package of assets includes 63 Bcfe of proved reserves (81% natural gas) in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The purchase price was $113.5 million. Current production from the 12 fields totals 17 MMcfe/d. The package also includes 25,300 gross acres. The company also will operate 85% of the proven reserves and will have an average working interest of 62%. In addition, the company entered into an agreement to purchase interests in two other offshore fields which have estimated proven reserves of 16 Bcfe and daily production of 5 MMcfe. The purchase price of the second package was $31.5 million. The assets are 85% natural gas and the company will operate 100% of the proven reserves and will have an average working interest of 85%. The company also announced that it has entered into additional hedges through 2008 to protect the acquisition economics.

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