Capacity

Quebec utility Gaz Metro said Monday that subsidiary Gaz Metro LNG LP has finished an expansion project that will triple the capacity of its natural gas liquefaction facility in Montreal, with eyes toward supplying the capacity-constrained New England market.

Mexico’s CENAGAS last Friday concluded a further stage of its open season for pipeline capacity in the Integrated Natural Gas Transportation and Storage System (SISTRANGAS).

Natural gas deliveries to power plants in the PJM Interconnection have dropped by around 1.3 Bcf/d over the last two weeks due to spring maintenance outages, according to natural gas analytics firm Genscape.

The principal backer of the controversial $3.68 billion Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) that only recently began flowing Bakken crude oil, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) last Friday launched a binding supplemental open season aimed at expanding the capacity of the four-state, nearly 1,200-mile pipeline that terminates at a marketing hub in south-central Illinois.

With Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline project progressing at a rapid pace, the countdown is on for producers to be ready fill that new capacity when it hits the market.

Physical natural gas for weekend and Monday delivery found few takers in Friday’s trading as ample storage, along with a quiet energy market, gave traders little incentive to lock in three-day deals.

Alliance Pipeline launched a test Monday of market demand for a potential 30% increase of delivery capacity along its 3,848-kilometer (2,291-mile) delivery route for liquids-rich natural gas to Chicago from northern British Columbia and Alberta.

Just over a year since Cheniere Energy Inc. became the first to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Lower 48, the company can tap gas from any North American basin it would care to. Meanwhile, Cheniere Gulf Coast exports and export capacity continue to grow.

MMEX Resources Corp. said it plans to build a $450 million, 50,000 b/d capacity crude oil refinery in the West Texas portion of the Permian Basin, at a site 20 miles northeast of Fort Stockton. The facility is to be built on a 250-acre site in Pecos County, near the Sulfur Junction spur of the Texas Pacifico Railroad using existing infrastructure to export diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gas and crude oil to western Mexico and South America. Upon completion of the permitting process, construction is slated to begin in early 2018. MMEX added that the facility, which is projected to begin operations in 2019, is also subject to completion of required debt and equity financing.