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In North Dakota where a quarter of the booming oil production in the Bakken Shale play is moved by rail car or truck — not pipeline — North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple Thursday urged the oil and gas industry to beef up the pipeline network in his state to keep up with rapidly growing production. Dalrymple spoke to more than 100 industry and government representatives at the state’s annual pipeline summit in Bismarck.

In another move to fund its Sabine Pass LNG liquefaction project in Louisiana, Cheniere Energy Partners LP has agreed to sell $1.5 billion in newly issued CQP Class B units to investment funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners LP and Blackstone Capital Partners VI LP, the Houston-based company said last week.

In another move to fund its Sabine Pass LNG liquefaction project in Louisiana, Cheniere Energy Partners LP has agreed to sell $1.5 billion in newly issued CQP Class B units to investment funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners LP and Blackstone Capital Partners VI LP, the Houston-based company said Tuesday.

DCP Midstream LLC is promoting a number of Midcontinent-focused projects currently under way that combined represent an investment of $2 billion. Among them is infrastructure development to provide natural gas liquids (NGL) takeaway capacity to Mont Belvieu, TX.

Nova Scotia said it will extend its review of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) until mid-2014, enacting a moratorium on the practice for at least another two years.

The Sierra Club mounted another protest of exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG), this time against a facility proposed for Freeport, TX. The opposition is not against exports themselves but against the expectation that they will cause drillers to expand the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) well stimulation.

Based on two proposed orders from a regulatory law judge, California regulators are considering yet another fine against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for shoddy pipeline system management and a broader crackdown on all in-state gas pipeline operators by requiring tougher management and financial audits of their natural gas operations. The latter is mandated by a new state law (SB 705).

As another result of the heightened scrutiny prompted by the San Bruno natural gas pipeline explosion, a new California regulatory unit has identified 17 potential hazards as part of a new statewide database on gas system hazards.

The early days of the Utica Shale are proving to be far more competitive than the early days of its cousin, the Marcellus Shale, the head of a major midstream player told NGI’s Shale Daily.