Spectra Energy Corp. is holding a transportation services binding open season for up to 200 MMcf/d of firm transportation service from its Fort Nelson Gas Plant in British Columbia (BC) to existing and proposed delivery points into the NOVA Gas Transmission system. The planned expansion has a targeted in-service date of January 2012. Spectra is also seeking nonbinding expressions of interest for incremental transportation capacity required in 2012 or later between receipt and delivery points on the Transportation North system. Interested parties must submit a service request by 3 p.m. MDT on May 7. Details and nomination forms are available at www.wei-pipeline.com. For information contact Mel Thorp, director of marketing and business development, at (403) 699-1578 or at melthorp@spectraenergy.com. Spectra is also seeking nonbinding expressions of interest for the expansion of raw gas transmission service and processing service at its Fort Nelson Gas Plant and its Fort Nelson North Processing Facility. The expansion would handle new production from BC’s budding Horn River shale gas field. Interested parties must submit a nomination form by 3 p.m. MDT on May 7. For information and nomination forms contact Brian Tanaka, director of marketing, field services, at (403) 699-1810 or at btanaka@spectraenergy.com.

MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources LLC said it will expand its processing and fractionation capacity in the Marcellus Shale in support of recently reached agreements with producers, which include significant acreage dedications and other commitments. The partnership will expand its Majorsville processing complex in northern West Virginia to process additional hydrocarbon-rich gas. The expansion is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2011 and will increase the cryogenic processing capacity at the Majorsville complex to approximately 270 MMcf/d. The natural gas liquids (NGL) produced at the complex will be connected via pipeline to MarkWest Liberty’s Houston, PA, NGL complex. When combined with the processing facilities currently operating or under construction at the Houston complex, MarkWest Liberty’s total processing capacity in the Marcellus will be approximately 625 MMcf/d by the end of 2011. MarkWest Liberty also said it is expanding the design capacity of its fractionation facility at the Houston complex to 60,000 b/d. When combined with an existing 24,000 b/d fractionation, storage and marketing facility near Portsmouth, OH, MarkWest’s midstream offering in the Marcellus and Appalachian Basin will include nearly 85,000 b/d of fractionation, storage and marketing capacity, the partnership said.

Enbridge Energy Partners LP plans to process natural gas liquids (NGL) from the Texas Panhandle in a cryogenic plant it will construct on its Anadarko gathering system, the company said. The plant, with a planned capacity of 150 MMcf/d, is needed to accommodate a resurgence of horizontal drilling activity in the NGL-rich Granite Wash formation, it said. The plant would increase the Anadarko system’s total processing capacity to more than 650 MMcf/d. The partnership also plans to add field compression and pipeline facilities to accommodate the increasing Granite Wash gas volumes. The new plant is anticipated to be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

Piedmont Natural Gas and Progress Energy Carolinas have agreed for Piedmont to provide gas delivery service to the utility’s new generating unit to be built at its existing Sutton site near Wilmington, NC. Piedmont said the infrastructure to be developed “alleviates the need” for its Robeson liquefied natural gas peak-shaving storage project. Piedmont said it will construct approximately 133 miles of transmission pipeline and install 23,000 hp of compression to serve the 620 MW combined-cycle unit at Sutton. The company’s investment in the facilities is estimated at $217 million. Progress Energy Carolinas has a long-term service agreement with Piedmont for the capacity, Piedmont said. Subject to approval by the North Carolina Utilities Commission, Piedmont will begin construction of the pipeline and compression facilities early in 2011 to have them in service in June 2013.

Halliburton Co. agreed to buy pressure control services provider Boots & Coots in a cash-and-stock transaction worth an estimated $240.4 million. Houston-based Boots & Coots has two core businesses: Pressure Control, which involves prevention and risk control services for well fires and blowouts; and Well Intervention, which enhances production for natural gas and oil operators. The well intervention business is expected to benefit Halliburton in the trend toward more unconventional shale resource plays. The merger, expected to be completed this summer, would give Boots & Coots shareholders about $3 for each share they own, with $1.73 in cash and $1.27 in Halliburton common stock.

A federal appeals court vacated a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order that allowed MoGas Pipeline LLC — an interstate pipeline system that was created in 2007 as a result of the consolidation of three pipe affiliates — to include “acquisition premium” costs in the pipeline’s initial rates. The Missouri Public Service Commission (MoPSC) challenged the initial rates of MoGas Pipeline. It claimed that the proposed rates passed on to consumers contained certain acquisition premium costs related to asset purchases by Missouri Interstate Gas LLC (MIG) as well as acquisition premiums associated with Missouri Gas Co. LLC (MGC) and Missouri Pipeline Co. (MPC) — the three affiliate pipelines that combined to form MoGas Pipeline. “In its petition for review before this court, MoPSC argues that FERC’s decision regarding the inclusion of acquisition premium costs in MoGas’s initial rates is arbitrary and capricious. We agree. FERC’s action is plainly inconsistent with its own precedent,” said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court remanded the case to the Commission for “prompt resolution.” In April 2007 FERC gave the green light to the three pipeline affiliates — a small interstate and two intrastates — to combine their facilities to form one new interstate system to better serve the Missouri and Illinois gas markets. MIG, MGC and MPC created a 263-mile, up to 16-inch diameter interstate system delivering gas to the two Midwest states. All three pipelines are based in St. Peters, MO, and are wholly owned subsidiaries of United Pipeline Systems LLC.

Independent oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens continued to voice his support for gas-friendly legislation last Wednesday, telling members of the House Committee on Ways and Means that the NAT GAS Act (HR 1835), which seeks to establish a sustained market for natural gas vehicles (NGV) and rein in gas market volatility, would create 600,000 jobs and help wean the country off imported oil. Pickens said foreign oil is responsible for approximately 75% of the U.S. trade deficit, including $27.5 billion of the $37.3 billion trade deficit racked up in January. Based on the price of oil in March, the country will spend $326.4 billion on oil in 2010, nearly 25% more than in 2009, he said. The NAT GAS Act may become part of a comprehensive jobs package, according to Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), co-chair of the House Natural Gas Caucus (see NGI, Nov. 23, 2009).

California’s San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG) said that it will apply $19.3 million in state and federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to an agreement with Florida-based vehicle rental firm Ryder System Inc. in which Ryder will start a heavy-duty natural gas truck rental and leasing project in cities that are part of SANBAG about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Separately, Phoenix-based Republic Services, a national waste hauling and disposal firm, committed to purchasing 226 natural gas heavy-duty waste hauling trucks for its operations mostly in Southern California, along with the Bellevue-Kent, WA, and Boise, ID areas in the Pacific Northwest. Seal Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. will build the fueling infrastructure for Republic. The waste company said this will push its alternative fuel vehicles to more than 459. Republic has committed to make 20% of its 2010 new truck orders natural gas-powered vehicles, and it will begin deploying them later in April, according to Jeff Andrews, senior vice president for Republic’s west region. The trucks eventually will be part of Republic Allied Waste divisions in six Southern California cities (Anaheim, Chula Vista, Gardena, Long Beach, Pacheco and Sun Valley) along with the three cities in Washington state and Idaho. Of the 226 added vehicles, 173 will be compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered and 53 will use liquefied natural gas (LNG), Republic said. Ryder will add both CNG- and LNG-powered heavy-duty vehicles. Ryder will construct new natural gas refueling stations within the region and work with its customers to identify and use what is considered an extensive CNG/LNG refueling infrastructure already in place in Southern California, much of it developed by Clean Energy.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LAMTA), the largest public transportation system in car-laden Southern California, is operating the nation’s largest natural gas-powered bus fleet, and Seal Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said it has signed a contract to upgrade four of LAMTA’s fueling stations. Under a $8.4 million contract Clean Energy will rehabilitate four compressed natural gas (CNG) bus fueling sites. LAMTA operates 2,506 CNG-powered buses, more than 95% of its fleet. The CNG buses consume more than 30 million gallons of CNG annually. Currently the operator of the LAMTA stations, Clean Energy said during the next 18 months its new contract calls for reconfiguring and upgrading the CNG fueling stations’ compressor equipment. LAMTA obtained a federal stimulus package grant for funding the CNG station upgrade project under last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Clean Energy so far is partnering with a number of public transit fleets to allow buses to run on natural gas — CNG or liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to James Harger, Clean Energy’s chief marketing officer. The company’s clients operate more than 5,000 CNG-powered buses.

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