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Sempra Energy, Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. have signed 20-year tolling capacity and joint venture (JV) agreements to support the development, financing and construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at the site of the Cameron LNG receipt terminal in Hackberry, LA.

Sempra Energy, Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. have signed 20-year tolling capacity and joint venture (JV) agreements to support the development, financing and construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at the site of the Cameron LNG receipt terminal in Hackberry, LA.

Houston’s TC PipeLines LP late Wednesday increased its natural gas partnership by one-third in a $1.05 billion agreement with parent TransCanada Corp. that would give it control over both Gas Transmission Northwest LLC (GTN) and Bison Pipeline LLC.

Denver-based Enservco Corp., a provider of well-site services, said it will invest $6 million in capital expenditures during 2013, with $4.7 million being allocated to new equipment fabrication. The budget also includes $1.3 million for enhancements to existing equipment. Management estimates the annualized revenue potential from the new equipment at about $10 million. The equipment includes nine frack heating trucks with a total of 12 burner boxes, four hot oilers and two well acidizing trucks. The investments will expand the company’s frack heating capacity by 40% and increase its hot oiling fleet by 15%. Enservco said sales during April reached $3.7 million, up 85% from one year ago. The improvement was fueled in part by cool spring temperatures across the company’s service territories, as well as sustained demand for fluid heating services, particularly in regions where new fracking techniques require higher water temperatures than traditional frack designs.

A bill under consideration by the Ohio House of Representatives would allow local governments to transfer into their coffers revenue generated from water sales to unconventional drilling operators.

Global generator AES Corp. said it plans to build a large-scale natural gas-fired plant at an existing site in Indiana, part of a sweeping plan to shutter or renovate more than a dozen coal-fired generation units in Indiana and Ohio.

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling, 59, reached agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that could allow him to be free as soon as 2017, according to a court filing. Skilling agreed to waive his rights to any further appeals and would allow more than $40 million of forfeited assets to be distributed to victims of Enron’s colossal collapse in 2001. Skilling was convicted in 2006 by a Houston jury on 19 criminal counts and originally was sentenced to federal prison for 24 years and four months (see NGI, May 29, 2006). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans twice said the sentence had been miscalculated (see NGI, April 11, 2011). “Although the recommended sentence for Jeff would still be more than double any other Enron defendant, all of whom have long been out of prison, Jeff will at least have the chance to get back a meaningful part of his life,” said Skilling attorney Daniel M. Petrocelli.

Golden Pass Products LLC and its backers, Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) and ExxonMobil Corp., have struck a framework agreement for the sale of potentially the full 15.6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) output of the proposed Golden Pass natural gas liquefaction and export project in Sabine Pass, TX.

Forest Oil Corp. continues to step up its activity in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas with the aid of a recently struck joint venture while it expands activity in the Texas Panhandle. East Texas results remain consistent and predictable, and the company is developing a new oil project in the area, said CEO Patrick R. McDonald.