Although it recently dropped out of a Western Canada gas-to-liquids (GTL) project with Sasol Canada (see Shale Daily, June 29), Talisman Energy Inc. still foresees monetizing its Montney Shale reserves through “some form of conversion process,” CEO John Manzoni told financial analysts during an earnings conference call. Manzoni said the Montney resource is “big enough, it’s strategic enough, it’s material enough to be in some form of conversion process, which naturally now is more likely to be LNG [liquefied natural gas] then GTL, if that’s the case.” Multiple projects have been proposed to liquefy western Canadian gas and ship it to overseas markets (see Shale Daily, July 31). Manzoni alluded to the LNG projects and said, “…in the context of all of that, we are considering all options and continue to do so…for our Montney resource, how best to create the maximum value for Talisman at the right time for our Montney resource, which is very big and very strategic.”

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC announced the start of a binding open season through Aug. 20 for firm capacity on its Rose Lake Expansion Project, providing incremental firm capacity from Zone 4 receipt points between Tennessee’s Stations 321 and 313 to delivery points at its existing interconnection with National Fuel Gas Supply at Rose Lake and the Zone 4 Station 219 Pool. Tennessee said it expects firm capacity for the expansion project to be around 230,000 Dth/d, with an in-service date of Nov. 1, 2014. The company is also offering additional “limited term” capacity from mutually agreeable receipt points in Zone 4 between Tennessee’s Stations 321 and 313, the Rose Lake interconnection with National Fuel and/or the Station 219 Pool. The company is specifically offering up to 55,000 Dth/d from Nov. 1, 2014 to Oct. 31, 2016, and up to 15,000 Dth/d from Nov. 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017, all to Rose Lake/Station 313.

Alcoa Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of Alcoa Inc., announced that it has been awarded a contract from Pennsylvania General Energy to produce 3,500 feet of aluminum alloy drill pipe, which will be used for natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Alcoa said its 4.5-inch drill pipe will enable carrier-mounted drilling rigs to drill to a depth of approximately 7,500 feet, or 1,000 feet deeper than conventional steel drill pipe without relying on more expensive rigs. Alcoa’s drill pipe is a tapered, high-strength aluminum alloy tube with proprietary thermal connections, a technology the company says makes its pipe up to 50% lighter than steel but with comparable durability and strength.