The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) to allow Gulf South Pipeline to build the Southeast Market Expansion Project for increased natural gas deliveries primarily to the Southeast. The Boardwalk Pipeline Partners subsidiary proposes to construct about 70 miles of 24-inch diameter and 30-inch diameter gas pipeline facilities in Mississippi and Alabama; and 34,215 hp of additional compression in Mississippi. It also requests that Petal Gas Storage LLC be permitted to abandon capacity by lease to Gulf South. Capacity on the system would be increased by 510,500 Dth/d if the Commission approves it. Capacity would serve the expanding Southeast gas markets and provide additional volumes to the Northeast market via an interconnect with Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line. The project, estimated to cost of $283.8 million, is targeted for in-service on Nov. 1, 2014. Construction is scheduled to get underway in April 2014, assuming the project is approved.

A stipulation and consent agreement to resolve charges that Enterprise Texas Pipeline LLCcharged shippers an unauthorized title transfer and tracking (TTT) fee that was not posted in its Commission-approved statement of operating conditions has been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [IN-16]. Enterprise Texas neither admitted nor denied the violations, but it agreed to pay a civil penalty of $315,000. The fine comes three months after the company, in consultation with FERC’s Office of Enforcement, refunded customers $7.23 million with interest for the alleged violations at issue. As part of the settlement, Enterprise Texas said it would not pass through any of the costs to current or future customers/ratepayers. The pipeline said it assessed the TTT volumetric charge on shippers to keep track of the “daisy chain” of gas supply transactions conducted at the Waha Hub in West Texas. From 2004 to 2005, the TTT fee was $0.002 /Dth. In 2005, Enterprise Pipeline increased the fee to $0.005/Dth. The unauthorized TTT fees were between 2004 and 2012.

The Department of Transportation‘s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and theDepartment of Interior‘s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) have signed an interagency agreement to develop a confidential reporting system for near-miss incidents on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). BTS would maintain control of the individual confidential reports but would provide trend analysis and statistical data to BSEE. “As a federal statistical agency, BTS can provide the protection of confidentiality for these reports,” BTS said in an e-mail to NGI. The reporting system, expected to be operational within a year, would expand the ability of BSEE and industry to capture information about accident precursors and potential hazards associated with offshore operations. The reporting of near-misses would be voluntary, but the agencies did not provide examples of what is considered a “near-miss.” The decision to adopt a confidential reporting system follows a series of recent accidents in the Gulf of Mexico, including an incident off the Louisiana coast and a fatal explosion on a production platform (see NGI, (see NGI, Aug. 5; Nov. 26, 2012).

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has added natural gas and petroleum time-series data to its application programming interface (API), a tool that “is ideal for software developers working in government, research, or the energy sector who are looking to design applications for the web or for mobile and tablet devices,” it said. The API is currently released as a beta product. The newly added data sets add 127,000 time series, summarizing natural gas and petroleum production, consumption, inventories, prices, imports, exports and sales data to the API that EIA launched in October. The natural gas and petroleum data builds on the API’s existing State Energy Data System and electricity data sets, allowing direct third-party computer access to 569,000 data time series, EIA said. EIA is planning to add comprehensive coal data sets and its Annual Energy Outlook data set to the API. The API is a free public service, but registration is required. Details and API keys are available on the EIA website.

Emex LLC, which claims “amazing success” with its natural gas reverse auction online platform in New Jersey, has launched the service in Illinois, the Houston-based company said. The platformservices the Northern Illinois Gas, Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas utility service territories. In addition to natural gas service in New Jersey and Illinois, Emex provides electricity reverse auction platforms in 10 deregulated states and the District of Columbia and is a way for suppliers to bid online for the energy needs of businesses, municipalities and commercial and industrial parks. The reverse auctions take 10-15 minutes and allow customers to procure energy at low prices, the privately held company said.

Hardrock Excavating LLC employee Michael Guesman has pleaded guilty to charges of dumping oilfield waste into a storm drain that empties into the Mahoning River near Youngstown, OH, a violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) that prompted the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to permanently revoke the operating permits for Hardrock and a second company also alleged to have violated the CWA. Guesman signed a written plea agreement and is scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on Nov. 15, according to minutes of the proceedings. He could be sentenced to as much as a year in prison. In February, ODNR revoked the operating permits for Hardrock and D&L Energy Inc. after employees were seen dumping oilfield waste into a storm drain in Youngstown (see NGI, Feb. 11). The agency ordered D&L to cease all injection well operations in the state and its temporary storage operations at a facility in Youngstown, revoked D&L’s six active injection well permits, denied D&L’s applications for three new injection well permits and revoked Hardrock’s brine haulers permit.

Spectra Energy Transmission‘s Texas Eastern Transmission is holding an open season through Sept. 27 for the South Louisiana Expansion Project to deliver more natural gas from various shale plays to South Louisiana industrial markets by early 2016. New pipeline infrastructure would consist of a new compressor station, as well as 20-inch and 24-inch diameter high-pressure pipelines extending from Texas Eastern’s 36-inch diameter system in Assumption Parish, LA, to interconnects with multiple Louisiana plants in Assumption, Ascension and St. James parishes.

A rulemaking designed to strengthen environmental protection performance standards governing the natural gas industry has been given a cautionary green light by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, with the final outcome to be determined following an extended public comment period. The rules would implement more of the mandates under the omnibus Act 13 of 2012, which represented the first comprehensive update of the state’s oil and gas laws in nearly 30 years. The latest rulemaking would enact Chapter 78 of the act. The draft regulations would enhance oil and gas rules that govern impacts to public resources, such as parks and wildlife areas; prevent spills; manage waste; and restore well sites after drilling. Additionally, the draft includes standards affecting how gathering lines and temporary pipelines are constructed, as well as provisions to identify and monitor abandoned wells close to well sites. The proposed rulemaking is posted at www.dep.state.pa.us. On the site, click “Draft Oil and Gas Regulations.”

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluids spilled in 2007 from natural gas drilling are believed to be the cause of “widespread death or distress” of an aquatic species in Acorn Fork, a small Appalachian creek in Kentucky, based on a joint study by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The creek is habitat for the federally “threatened” Blackside dace, a minnow found only in the Cumberland River Basin of Kentucky and Tennessee, and the Powell River Basin of Virginia. After the chemical fluid spill, state and federal scientists observed a “significant die-off of aquatic life.” The samples analyses and results “clearly showed that the hydraulic fracturing fluids degraded water quality in Acorn Fork, to the point that the fish developed gill lesions, and suffered liver and spleen damage as well.” The report, “Histopathological Analysis of Fish from Acorn Fork Creek, Kentucky Exposed to Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Releases,” was published in Southeastern Naturalist.

Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) is proposing to acquire related unit PAA Natural Gas Storage (PNG), which owns and operates three natural gas storage facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Michigan, in a unit-for-unit exchange valued at $1.39 billion. PAA now holds 46% of PNG’s issued and outstanding common units as general partner and through its majority equity ownership position. PAA is proposing to acquire all of the remaining outstanding units, exchanging 0.435 common units of PAA for each PNG unit; the proposed consideration represents a value of $22.74/PNG unit based on the closing price Aug. 26.

Oneok Partners LP plans to invest $440 million in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin to buy a natural gas liquids (NGL) processing facility and to upgrade related infrastructure. About $305 million is going to purchase Sage Creek, a 50 MMcf/d gas processing facility and NGL infrastructure from an undisclosed seller. The rest of the money is to upgrade and build midstream gathering lines, well connections and related infrastructure. As natural gas volumes increase to the Sage Creek system, and as NGL volumes are transported to the adjacent Oneok Partners-owned and operated Bakken NGL Pipeline, management expects annual earnings to increase to $60 million from $40 million between 2015 and 2018.

Birmingham, AL-based Energen Corp. has signed an agreement to sell to an undisclosed buyer its Black Warrior Basin coalbed methane (CBM) assets in Alabama for an estimated $160 million. Closing is set for October with an effective date of July 1. Energen had about 750 million boe proved, probable and possible reserves at year-end 2012, primarily in the Permian and San Juan basins, and said it would use the proceeds to reduce short-term debt. As of Dec. 31, proved reserves associated with the Black Warrior properties totaled 97 Bcf. In addition to acquiring the CBM properties, the buyer is to assume Energen’s third-party operating agreements. After adjusting 4Q2013 production by about 400,000 boe for the sale, Energen’s revised 2013 production guidance from all operations is 25.7-26.1 million boe.

To diversify its northeastern U.S. generation portfolio, Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Emera Inc. has entered into a $541 million agreement to purchase three combined-cycle gas-fired electricity generating facilities in New England from Capital Power Corp. The transaction, which would add 1,050 MW to its generation capacity in the Northeast, includes the Bridgeport Energy facility (520 MW) in Bridgeport, CT; Tiverton Power (265 MW) in Tiverton, RI; and Rumford Power (265 MW) in Rumford, ME.

Apache Corp. has sold a one-third operational stake in strife-torn Egypt for $3.1 billion in cash to China’s Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp. and launched a strategic global partnership with the producer. Considering the sale to Sinopec, as well as its recent sale of the Gulf of Mexico shallow water, pro forma 2Q2013 production from the North American onshore would have been 55% of total production, while the Egypt portfolio would have comprised about 15%, CEO G. Steven Farris said. In 2010, onshore North America contributed 31% of Apache’s overall production, Egypt represented 25% and the GOM Shelf represented 17%. During 2Q2013, Apache’s production in the Permian and Anadarko basins was 42% higher (see NGI, Aug. 26). The sale, said Farris, is one of the “meaningful steps to rebalance our portfolio to better deliver the full potential of our deep North America onshore resource inventory.”

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is setting the wheels in motion to accelerate U.S. onshore drilling following the $2.64 billion cash sale for part of its offshore Mozambique natural gas project. The Woodlands, TX operator, which would remain operator and hold a 26.5% stake, agreed to sell a 10% interest to India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd. “We expect to use the net proceeds from this transaction to further accelerate the short- and intermediate-term oil and liquids opportunities we have in the Wattenberg field, Eagle Ford Shale, Permian and Powder River basins, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and other evolving plays in our portfolio,” said CEO Al Walker. The sale is set for completion by year’s end.

Citing the quality of Range Resources Corp.‘s reserve base, Moody’s Investors Serviceupgraded the Houston-based company’s corporate family rating to “Ba1” from “Ba2” and senior subordinate rating to “Ba2” from “Ba3.” Moody’s also assigned Range a speculative grade liquidity rating of “SGL-2,” with a “stable” outlook. The upgrade reflects Range’s “investment grade size and scale, as well as the company’s significant organic growth over an extended period of time,” Moody’s said. In addition to production averaging 150,000 boe/d and proved developed reserves of nearly 600 million boe, Range has a proved developed reserve life of nearly 11 years, according to the ratings service. Bolstered by record production, especially in the southwest Pennsylvania portion of the Marcellus, and revisions to its estimated ultimate recovery curves, Range recently reported net 2Q2013 earnings of nearly $144 million (see NGI, July 29). Range also reported record production of 910 MMcfe/d in 2Q2013, a 27% increase over the 719.3 MMcfe/d it produced in the year-ago quarter.

Encana Corp. has opened its eighth compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station in Parachute, CO, to registered natural gas vehicles. The Calgary operator already “has converted nearly 57% of its drilling rig fleet and approximately 29% of its fleet vehicles to run on natural gas,” according toEncana Natural Gas Inc. Vice President Matt Most. Encana owns and operates multiple natural gas fueling stations and is expanding its CNG operations across North America (see NGI, Jan. 7). It also has commissioned the Cavalier liquefied natural gas facility in Alberta to bring higher volumes of gas to trucking and other fleets in Western Canada and elsewhere.

Whiting Petroleum Corp. is paying $260 million to an undisclosed party for acreage in North Dakota and Montana to increase its Williston Basin foothold. The properties primarily target the Middle Bakken and Three Forks zones, and include 17,282 net acres in and around Whiting’s acreage in the Missouri Breaks and Hidden Bench prospects. Included in the purchase are 13 operated 1,280-acre drilling spacing units in the Bakken/Three Forks, with an average working interest of 58% and net revenue stakes of 48%. Almost all (92%) of the acreage being purchased is held by production. Net oil and gas production in August from the purchased properties is estimated at 2,420 boe/d. Estimated proved reserves are 17.1 million boe, 85% weighted to oil. Close to one-quarter of the reserves are classified as proved developed producing, while 76% are proved undeveloped.