Acquired

A new joint venture formed by Crestwood Midstream Partners LP and Crestwood Holdings Partners LLC has acquired a Marcellus Shale gathering system in northern West Virginia owned by Antero Resources Appalachian Corp., the companies announced Monday.

ConocoPhillips revealed Wednesday that in the last three months of 2011 it acquired more than 100,000 acres in North American liquids-rich shale plays, bringing its unconventional acquisitions last year to more than 500,000 acres.

Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPP) and Enbridge Inc. will hold concurrent open seasons Jan. 4-Feb. 10 to solicit capacity commitments from shippers for an expansion of their Seaway crude oil pipeline and an extension of the pipeline into the Port Arthur/Beaumont refining market in southeast Texas, the companies said.

Enbridge Inc. on Thursday acquired another 13.3% stake in the Cabin Gas Plant development east of Fort Nelson, BC, which would give it a 71% stake in the project intended to serve growing natural gas output from the Horn River Basin.

In two days’ time Hess Corp. has acquired stakes in almost 185,000 net acres in the Ohio portion of the Utica Shale, the latest deal adding 85,000 more acres to its prospective leasehold.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on Thursday warned that using water from the Colorado River Basin to produce oil shale could impact agricultural and municipal water uses affecting 15% of the nation’s crops and up to 30 million people from Wyoming to Southern California.

NuStar Energy LP has signed separate deals with Valero Energy Corp. and EOG Resources Inc. that will affect several shale plays. Under the Valero deal, NuStar will construct a new pipeline to transport Eagle Ford crude oil to Valero’s processing plants. Meanwhile, EOG will ship 70,000 b/d of crude oil from the Bakken, Eagle Ford and other shale plays by train to NuStar’s terminal at St. James, LA, and will add 360,000 bbl of storage capacity there. NuStar’s share of construction costs should be between $30 million and $40 million.

Rex Energy Corp. is joining the ranks of companies pursuing the Utica Shale of eastern Ohio. The State College, PA-based company recently acquired 11,000 net acres in Carroll County, OH, for an estimated $40 million and plans to continue acquiring acreage in preparation for a drilling program in 2012.

Howard Energy Partners (HEP) announced it has acquired Texas Pipeline LLC and Bottom Line Services LLC for $76 million. Two firms — Crosstex Energy LP and Quanta Services Inc. — each provided $35 million in initial funding in exchange for about a 35% share of San Antonio-based HEP. Texas Pipeline operates 250 miles of gathering lines in the Eagle Ford and Pearsall shale plays. Bottom Line has built more than 500 miles of pipeline and installed more than 50 midstream facilities in the Eagle Ford.