Announcements

Next year already is shaping up as another growth spurt for natural gas as a transportation fuel, based on recent announcements. American Honda will be coming off a record sales year for its compressed natural gas (CNG) Civic models, which will have added styling and features next year, but those 2013 cars will not be on the market until all of the 2012 CNG Civics are sold, the company said at the end of November. Ford F-450 and F-550 trucks are being converted for utility and other fleet work by Seattle, WA-based World CNG and by Vancouver, BC-based Westport Innovations. World is providing dedicated CNG conversions and new F-550 Ford trucks, using a bodymaker, Caseco Manufacturing and its Oklahoma City-based installation partner, Clear Sky CNG. Westport said by mid-2013 it will have converted F-450 and F-550 CNG bifuel trucks outfitted at its Kentucky Integration Center, a Ford-qualified NGV modifier. Separately, the city of El Paso, TX, has contracted with Mansfield Gas Equipment Systems to design, build and operate three CNG fueling stations on city property to fuel city-owned and leased vehicles.

In separate announcements, Gulfport Energy Corp. and Seneca Resources Corp. reported that they are achieving encouraging production results from some of the first horizontal wells drilled in the Utica Shale.

Shale gas is the “magic bullet” the U.S. petrochemical industry needs to make a full recovery from a decade of economic stagnation, according to researchers from Chemical Market Resources Inc. (CMR), a Houston firm that advises the chemical, petrochemical and plastics industries.

In separate announcements late Tuesday, California regulators released documents on two major parts of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) natural gas pipeline and storage system. In one, the utility admits it still has work to do on the recording and testing of more than 400 miles of its pipelines in highly populated areas, and in the second a proposed decision would set utility rates for pipelines and storage at more than half-a-billion-dollars annually for the next four years.

In separate announcements from opposite ends of the country, the state of Washington and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) moved forward with plans to reduce, or eliminate altogether, their reliance on coal to produce energy.

In separate announcements from opposite ends of the country, the state of Washington and the Tennessee Valley Authority moved forward with plans to reduce, or eliminate altogether, their reliance on coal to produce energy.

Liquids-rich unconventional gas plays, particularly shales, are continuing to drive midstream spending as evidenced by two announcements last week out of the Eagle Ford Shale as well as the Cana-Woodford Shale and Granite Wash plays.

It’s far from a done deal, but the potential for export of U.S. natural gas from the Lower 48 states crept closer last week with announcements by Cheniere Energy Partners LP that it is in talks with two parties for capacity on its gas liquefaction and export facilities proposed for the Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Cameron Parish, LA.

Range Resources Corp. and Denbury Resources Inc. in separate announcements said they would sell some onshore natural gas properties to focus on their core businesses. Range is selling some Ohio properties that include around 3,500 producing wells that currently produce 25 MMcfe/d net. The properties, which are 70% weighted to gas, include 418,000 net acres of leasehold and about 1,600 miles of pipeline and gathering system infrastructure. Range retained an adviser to assist in the sales process and it plans to open a data room in early January. Assuming a suitable bid is received, Range expects to close the sale before the end of March. Denbury, which now focuses on carbon dioxide tertiary recovery projects in the onshore, agreed to sell its remaining Barnett Shale stake for $210 million to Talon Oil & Gas LLC, a privately held producer. Talon, which expects to complete the transaction by then end of the year, had earlier purchased a 60% stake in the properties (see NGI, May 18).