Christi

Linde North America has upgraded its carbon dioxide (CO2) plants in Corpus Christi, TX, and Woodward, OK, to better serve the Midcontinent and Eagle Ford Shale regions with expanded CO2 availability. “Linde has brought these plants on stream to supply the surging demand for CO2 in the oil and gas industry,” said Lauren Porambo, CO2 product manager. “The use of CO2 in fracturing completions displaces the use of water, reduces formational damage and enhances well production.” CO2 is injected in a liquid state and converts to a gaseous state down-hole, mitigating formational damage and fluid on formation, while enhancing well clean-up and flow-back, Linde said. Conventional liquid pumps are used, so service companies require no specialized equipment.

The Port of Corpus Christi (Texas) accepted a $7 million bid from Oxy Ingleside Property Holdings LLC, a unit of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy), for a nearly 100-acre campus portion of the former U.S. Naval Station Ingleside (NSI). Oxy Ingleside currently has about 816 acres of the former NSI under purchase contract. The sale agreement for the campus portion will be presented for approval at the Port Commission meeting scheduled for Aug. 14. Occidental Chemical has operated a chemical plant at Ingleside since 1987. The campus portion is the third and final piece of the former naval base to be sold. Oxy has said it plans development of the base property in phased projects worth about $1 billion. Projects could include pipeline and barge facilities to handle liquefied petroleum gas produced from the Eagle Ford Shale; a liquefied natural gas facility also is possible, along with storage for crude oil, condensate and refined products, Oxy officials have told Ingleside City officials. An Oxy spokesman declined to provide further details. “The campus property complements the previous acquisition of the port property by Oxy Ingleside Property Holdings LLC [see Shale Daily, April 2], and we will investigate other uses for the property after closing, said spokesman Eric Moses.

Despite a large supply of ethane in the Appalachian Basin and no nearby place to put it, several projects to ship the commodity out of the region are challenged by the complexities of the marketplace, according to several project sponsors.

DCP Midstream Partners LP will construct a 200 MMcf/d natural gas processing plant in the Eagle Ford. The $120 million Eagle Plant project will be supported by a 15-year fee based agreement to process the company’s natural gas volumes. The facility, which will compliment the company’s five existing processing plants and capacity of 800 MMcf/d in South Texas, is expected to be completed during 4Q2012.

NuStar Logistics has reactivated and plans to operate its 60-mile Pettus South Pipeline to transport Eagle Ford crude oil to Corpus Christi, TX, part of its agreement with Koch Pipeline Co. LP, a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc. The move will add 30,000 b/d of capacity to the Koch system, which totals about 540 miles in South Texas. In May 2010 Koch completed projects to expand its crude oil and gas condensates capacity by 25,000 b/d, then added another 50,000 b/d of crude and condensate capacity through an agreement with Arrowhead Pipeline LP in September 2010.

The Independence Hub production platform has set sail from Corpus Christi, TX, for a five-day trip to the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM), where it will be installed in about 8,000 feet of water — the deepest offshore platform to date. The hub is expected to ramp up in the second half of 2007, with the capacity to increase natural gas production from the GOM by 1 Bcf/d (see Daily GPI, Oct. 23, 2006).

A day after ExxonMobil confirmed that it will sell or cancel its Vista del Sol LNG import project near Corpus Christi, TX, (see Daily GPI, Aug. 22), BP said Tuesday it has put its Bay Crossing LNG project, planned for Pelican Island in Galveston, TX, indefinitely on hold.

FERC on Wednesday approved ExxonMobil Corp. affiliates’ Vista del Sol liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and associated pipeline facilities near Corpus Christi, TX.

Tidelands Oil & Gas Co., headquartered in Corpus Christi, TX, said Wednesday that Reef International LLC, a subsidiary, has filed applications to construct and operate an international pipeline crossing into Mexico. The Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras pipe crossing would deliver natural gas, propane and butane, and is expected to be operational by the first quarter of next year.