Dakota

Alliance Pipeline LP said Hess Corp. has contracted for capacity on a North Dakota pipeline lateral and associated facilities it plans to construct to carry liquids-rich gas from the Williston Basin.

Aux Sable Liquid Products LP unit Sable NGL LLC is buying the Stanley Condensate Recovery Plant and Prairie Rose Pipeline from a unit of EOG Resources Inc., the company said Friday.

NuStar Logistics LP and TexStar Midstream Services LP plan to develop a pipeline to carry Eagle Ford Shale crude oil and condensate to Corpus Christi, TX, the partners said Tuesday. They are the latest to announce projects targeting crude oil production from the South Texas play, where development activity has been brisk.

The Arlington, TX, City Council voted 8-1 to award Chesapeake Energy Corp. for its Bobcat 1H well on a site that is about a half-mile southwest of the Cowboys Stadium. The approval followed a public hearing and an agreement by Chesapeake to coordinate heavy truck traffic around events at the stadium and the nearby Rangers Ballpark, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. As many as a dozen wells could be placed on Chesapeake’s Truman site accessing the mineral resources of about 1,200 property owners. Some area residents had expressed concerns about traffic and pollution, but others at the council meeting said they supported development of their mineral rights.

Linn Energy has agreed to pay $196 million to Concho Resources to acquire oil properties in the Bakken play in North Dakota, the companies said Monday. The properties are expected to add current net production of about 1,350 Boe/d (94% of it oil), proved reserves of approximately 8 MMBoe (83% oil) and more than 400 potential oil drilling locations, according to Linn.

Iowa regulators have approved a natural gas rate increase of $3.4 million, or 2.1%, for North Dakota-based Black Hills Corp.’s gas distribution utility operations in the state. The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) approved a settlement submitted in January by Black Hills’ Iowa Gas Utility Co., which originally filed with the IUB for a $4.7 million, or 2.9%, increase last June. The settlement-based increase will average about $1.80 more monthly for residential customers and $1.50 more each month for commercial customers.

TransCanada’s new Bison Pipeline between Wyoming and North Dakota is still not in service because of some final commissioning work, some of which relates to the monitoring of pipeline pressures, a Houston-based TransCanada spokesperson told NGI.

Moving up the ladder to become the second largest acreage holder within the liquids-rich Bakken Shale oil play in North Dakota, Hess Corp. said Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of 167,000 net acres in the region from TRZ Energy LLC for $1.05 billion in cash.

A move by shale gas operators to use horizontal drilling techniques in liquids plays may be the impetus in setting a new all-time record for horizontal drilling. A total of 943 horizontal rigs were in operation during the week ending Nov. 5, according to statistics compiled by Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI).