Dallas

A Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC (Transco) compressor station in Dallas County, AL, has been given the green light by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to begin service, adding 130,000 Dth/d of capacity to the pipeline system [Docket No. CP11-18-000]. The compressor is the second phase of the Mid-South Expansion Project, approved in 2011, to expand Transco services in the Southeast after the first phase went into service in 2012 (see NGI, Sept. 3, 2012). The expansion, originally was designed to service LaGrange, GA, Progress Energy Carolinas and Southern Co., gives Transco an additional total firm capacity of 225,000 Dth/d.

Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co. is cutting jobs and scaling back operations in its Trinidad, CO, operating area, a dry natural gas play in the Raton Basin. The company said low gas prices were the culprit.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Region 6 office in Dallas is holding a volunteer effort through Feb. 28 to train exploration and production workers about health and safety issues at sites in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The National Service, Transmission, Exploration & Production Safety Network, commonly known as STEPS, is participating. Participating companies may choose to hold training events at their work sites with OSHA materials. A commitment form and training tools to conduct job site inspections is available online through the OSHA Education Center at the University of Texas Arlington website.

Dallas-based Exco Resources Inc. and New York-based holding company Harbinger Group Inc. (HGI) have formed a partnership to exploit Exco assets in East Texas, North Louisiana and West Texas in a deal worth $725 million. It gives HGI a foothold in energy that is also a bet on rising natural gas prices.

Dallas-based Exco Resources Inc. and New York-based holding company Harbinger Group Inc. (HGI) have formed a partnership to exploit Exco assets in East Texas, North Louisiana and West Texas in a deal worth $725 million. It gives HGI a foothold in energy that is also a bet on rising natural gas prices.

Dallas-based Bridger Logistics LLC, a division of Bridger Group LLC, plans to join Midland, TX-based Advantage Pipeline LLC in developing its Pecos River Pipeline project, which will transport oil from the Delaware Basin to markets in the Gulf Coast and Midland. The pipeline will originate near Pecos, TX, and terminate in Crane, TX, where it will connect to the Longhorn Pipeline — owned by Magellan Midstream Partners LP — and Centurion Pipeline LP’s Crane Station. Once fully operational, the pipeline will have an initial capacity of 150,000 b/d and consist of more than 75 miles of trunkline. Bridger Transfer Services LLC will develop lateral extensions, gathering stations, origination stations and truck offloading facilities. The pipeline is scheduled to be operational by 1Q2013.

Dallas-based Mesa Energy Holdings Inc. has leased 1,525 net acres in Garfield and Major counties, OK, and has closed on a farmout agreement with Twenty/Twenty Oil & Gas Inc. covering 1,720 net acres that are held by production.

Dallas-based natural gas vehicle (NGV) conversion company BAF Technologies has acquired Michigan-based automotive emissions control company ServoTech Engineering Inc., which will continue to operate under its current president as a BAF subsidiary. Terms of the acquisition were not released. Headed by Hamid Servati, ServoTech is a Ford Motor Co.-qualified calibration modifier. BAF was the first compressed natural gas converter recognized as Ford-qualified. ServoTech’s relationship with Ford should support BAF in developing engine calibrations more efficiently, enabling it ultimately to receive California and federal air quality approvals faster than in the past, according to BAF President John Bacon. BAF is a wholly owned subsidiary of Clean Energy Fuels Corp., a provider of fueling infrastructure and natural gas for NGVs.

Two earthquakes that recently shook the area around the East Texas town of Timpson were unlikely to have been caused by natural gas drilling or drilling waste disposal activities, according to the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC).