Delayed

Apache Corp. has begun to see its drilling and well completion costs coming down, which may help to start some delayed North American projects, including some key prospects in Canada.

Responding to a legal challenge, a U.S. federal appeals court delayed until at least mid-August Royal Dutch Shell plc’s plans to begin exploration activities in the Beaufort Sea off the Alaskan coast.

The $3.5 billion Tahiti project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, which was scheduled to ramp-up in mid-2008, will be delayed for an unknown period because of metallurgical problems discovered in the facility’s mooring shackles, Chevron Corp. said Thursday. Tahiti’s peak production is expected to be 125,000 b/d of oil and 70 MMcf/d of natural gas.

The $3.5 billion Tahiti project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, which was scheduled to ramp-up in mid-2008, will be delayed for an unknown period because of metallurgical problems discovered in the facility’s mooring shackles, Chevron Corp. said Thursday. Tahiti’s peak production is expected to be 125,000 b/d of oil and 70 MMcf/d of natural gas.

The re-connection of western supply basins to eastern markets by the massive Rockies Express (REX) and other pipeline projects (see related story) and the “somewhat delayed” arrival of more liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports suggests higher Henry Hub prices and “reasonable” western region locational basis, both of which will continue to facilitate development of domestic resources, according to Wood Mackenzie.

The re-connection of western supply basins to eastern markets by the massive Rockies Express (REX) and other pipeline projects and the “somewhat delayed” arrival of more liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports suggests higher Henry Hub prices and “reasonable” western region locational basis, both of which will continue to facilitate development of domestic resources, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Transco said unfavorable weather had delayed the progress of repairs to a section of pipe in Eugene Island Block 135 on its Southeast Louisiana Lateral that was damaged during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Transco now anticipates completion of the work on Feb. 15; it had previously expected to finish Jan. 31 (see Daily GPI, Jan. 16).

Tennessee said the completion date for installation of a pig launcher and receiver on the 334A-100 Line north of New York City has been delayed until July 3. The work, which requires the suspension of physical flow at the Con Ed White Plains meter and has seen several previous delays, most recently had been expected to wind up Tuesday, the pipeline said.

The Port of Long Beach, CA, has delayed the release of a joint draft environmental impact report (EIR) to FERC on the Long Beach liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal proposed by Sound Energy Solutions, a joint venture of Mitsubishi Corp. and ConocoPhillips. The agency was expected to file the report this month with FERC but now is expecting to a delay of at least several weeks.