Begun

With solid second quarter results in the books, Encana Corp. is taking a look at its entire North American portfolio and has begun putting a “new emphasis on our portfolio of emerging liquids plays,” CEO Doug Suttles told investors on Wednesday.

Backed by Germany’s government, three global firms have begun a three-year project that will attempt to make the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into a useful component of various industrial processes, starting with abundant natural gas supplies as a feedstock.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has begun operating its 850,000 net acre leasehold in the Mississippian Lime jointly with China’s Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration Corp. after the duo completed a $1 billion-plus joint venture (JV) agreement.

Williams Partners has begun taking stock of the damage at its Geismar, LA, olefins plant caused by an explosion and fire on June 13 that killed two workers and injured more than 70 others.

NiSource Midstream Services LLC’s Big Pine Gathering System in the heart of the Marcellus Shale has begun serving XTO Energy Inc. under a long-term agreement. The 57-mile, 20- and 24-inch diameter system stretches into Pennsylvania’s Allegheny, Butler, Armstrong, Indiana and Westmoreland counties and interconnects to the Columbia Gas Transmission system, as well as Texas Eastern Transmission and Dominion Transmission. The system is anchored by XTO; a separate gathering agreement was recently signed with PennEnergy.

Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. has begun drilling activities earlier than expected on its recently acquired Eagle Ford Shale acreage, the Australia-based company said Monday.

Onshore drilling activity in the United States and Canada has begun to pick up, with excess pressure pumping capacity “being absorbed ever so slowly,” the top financial officer for Baker Hughes Inc. said this week.

Operations have begun at Enterprise Products Partners LP’s expanded liquid propane gas (LPG) export facility on the Houston Ship Channel, and another one could be in the works as demand for U.S. propane continues to increase, the partnership said.

Operations have begun at Enterprise Products Partners LP’s expanded liquid propane gas (LPG) export facility on the Houston Ship Channel, and another one could be in the works as demand for U.S. propane continues to increase, the partnership said.