2011

Oneok Partners LP Thursday said it would spend between $980 million and $1.1 billion by 2014 on a slate of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) midstream projects in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota.

A longtime foe of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Pennsylvania General Assembly has introduced a bill that would require companies applying for permits to drill Marcellus Shale natural gas wells to conduct pre-drill water quality tests for nearby landowners that request it.

From 2009 to 2011 nearly 100,000 tons of pollution were released from Texas oil and gas facilities, refineries and petrochemical plants due to accidents and other non-routine events, according to the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). Natural gas operations were blamed for the majority of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and volatile organic compound (VOC) releases.

From 2009 to 2011 nearly 100,000 tons of pollution were released from Texas oil and gas facilities, refineries and petrochemical plants due to accidents and other non-routine events, according to the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). Natural gas operations were blamed for the majority of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and volatile organic compound (VOC) releases.

Using Colorado as its example, a Boulder, CO-based nonprofit law and conservation group, added its two cents to the growing list of advocate-sponsored studies of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), concluding there are definite impacts on water supplies and the communities they serve from the widespread use of the oil/gas drilling technology.

Work on Shell Pipeline’s Eagle Ford Shale- and Permian Basin-focused Houma, LA, to Houston (Ho-Ho) oil pipeline system reversal is going according to plan, based on shipper requests and new crude production and infrastructure coming online, the company said. Through a Declaratory Order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved the contract rates and capacity allocation for the Ho-Ho Reversal project. The initial phase will move crude oil from connecting pipelines and terminals in East Houston to Nederland, TX, and Port Arthur, TX, thereby supplying the refining complex across the region with crude from the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin, as well as crude supplies from the Cushing, OK, area. Phase I of the project is designed to complement new pipeline infrastructure that is currently being built to the Houston area. The Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary last August said it was considering reversing flows on the 22-inch diameter Ho-Ho system to enable more than 300,000 b/d of crude to be distributed across the Gulf Coast region (see Shale Daily, Aug. 9, 2011).

EQT Corp. has launched a pilot program to begin converting its Marcellus Shale drilling rigs from diesel-powered equipment to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Pittsburgh-based company said Thursday.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Shell Appalachia are investigating a methane gas migration issue first discovered last week in Tioga County, PA.

Southcross Energy is expanding the capacity of its Bonnie View Fractionator, which is nearing completion in Refugio County in South Texas. Initial capacity was intended to be 11,500 b/d of natural gas liquids (NGL), but that has been increased to 22,500 b/d. The facility is expected to operate at the higher capacity beginning in January. The fractionator is connected to the Seadrift ethane and propane products pipelines and will have truck-loading facilities to ship and receive NGL products. Completion of this project will bring Dallas-based Southcross Energy’s fractionation capacity in the Corpus Christi, TX, area to 27,300 b/d. About a year ago Southcross acquired about 58 miles of 6-, 8-, 10- and 12-inch diameter natural gas pipelines in San Patricio and Refugio counties (see Shale Daily, July 6, 2011).