Barge

A barge that sank late Tuesday in the Calcasieu Ship Channel (CSC) of Louisiana is one of three obstructions that need to be removed before deep draft vessel traffic, including tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG), is allowed to resume, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In addition to the barge that sank…

Blue Racer Midstream LLC, a joint venture of Caiman Energy II LLC and Dominion Resources Inc., plans to begin transporting its natural gas products via barge along the Ohio River later this year.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) said it is withdrawing a proposal to allow barges to transport wastewater in bulk from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) along the nation’s waterways, in part due to tepid support from the oil and gas industry, but it may revisit the idea in the future.

The Houston Ship Channel, the 52-mile convoy that delivers close to 11% of U.S. refining capacity for the Port of Houston, was shuttered for a third day Monday as cleanup continued to remove close to 4,000 bbl (168,000 gallons) of residual fuel oil that spilled after an oil barge and cargo ship collided.

A fleet of oil-retrieving skimmers and other vessels, as well as close to 400 people, were working Monday in parts of the Houston Ship Channel to contain up to 400 bbl (168,000 gallons) of heavy oil that spilled following a collision Saturday between an oil barge and cargo ship. The ship channel, one of the world's busiest waterways to move petrochemicals, could be closed partially to import and export traffic for a week or more.

GreenHunter Water LLC has begun to process complex oilfield waste streams at its bulk storage and barge transloading terminal in New Matamoras, OH, the GreenHunter Resources Inc. subsidiary said Friday.

With oil production from domestic shale plays growing, a Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary is considering a plan to reverse flows on its Houma-to-Houston (Ho-Ho) system, which now runs from Houma, LA, to oil processing facilities east of Houston. Reversing the 22-inch diameter pipeline would enable more than 300,000 b/d of crude to be distributed across the Gulf Coast region, the company said.

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.

Williams Field Services (WFS) said the La Barge Compressor Station in the Green River gathering area was still down Thursday morning after experiencing an equipment failure Wednesday afternoon that resulted in decreased flows in the field and curtailment of volumes at the WFS-operated Opal Plant. WFS said it was making Cycle 4 nomination cuts for Wednesday’s gas day and Cycle 3 cuts for Thursday’s gas day “in order to align nominations with flowing gas.” Shippers were asked to rank their delivery priorities in anticipation of nomination reductions.