Diameter

Work on Shell Pipeline’s Eagle Ford Shale- and Permian Basin-focused Houma, LA, to Houston (Ho-Ho) oil pipeline system reversal is going according to plan, based on shipper requests and new crude production and infrastructure coming online, the company said. Through a Declaratory Order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved the contract rates and capacity allocation for the Ho-Ho Reversal project. The initial phase will move crude oil from connecting pipelines and terminals in East Houston to Nederland, TX, and Port Arthur, TX, thereby supplying the refining complex across the region with crude from the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin, as well as crude supplies from the Cushing, OK, area. Phase I of the project is designed to complement new pipeline infrastructure that is currently being built to the Houston area. The Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary last August said it was considering reversing flows on the 22-inch diameter Ho-Ho system to enable more than 300,000 b/d of crude to be distributed across the Gulf Coast region (see Shale Daily, Aug. 9, 2011).

Unit Petroleum Co., a subsidiary of Unit Corp., has agreed to pay $617 million to Noble Energy Inc. for oil and natural gas properties in western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. The deal doubles Unit’s acreage in its Granite Wash core area.

TransCanada Corp. was selected by Shell Canada Ltd. last week to build and operate the proposed Coastal GasLink project, a large-diameter pipeline that initially would transport more than 1.7 Bcf/d from the gassy Montney, Horn River and Cordova basins in the Dawson Creek, British Columbia (BC) area about 700 kilometers (435 miles) to Shell’s planned 12 million ton/year liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility near Kitimat, BC.

TransCanada Corp. has been selected by Shell Canada Ltd. to build and operate the proposed Coastal GasLink project, a large-diameter pipeline that initially would carry more than 1.7 Bcf/d from the gassy Montney, Horn River and Cordova basins in the Dawson Creek, British Columbia (BC) area about 700 kilometers (435 miles) to Shell’s planned 12 million ton/year liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility near Kitimat, BC.

A proposed 16-inch diameter, 450-mile oil pipeline from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale to a hub near Clearbrook, MN, is at risk for delay or termination due to a stalemate with Enbridge Energy Partners LP, which is refusing to allow an interconnection with its pipeline in Minnesota, according to High Prairie Pipeline, which has filed a complaint at FERC.

Enbridge Energy Partners LP (EEP) said Tuesday that for at least the next three years, it plans to rely on rail facilities to transport crude oil from the Bakken Shale and Three Forks formations while it launches long-term plans to expand pipelines in the region.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved Kern River Gas Transmission Co.’s application to construct 8.6 miles of eight-inch diameter pipeline lateral and a meter station to provide natural gas service to Molycorp Minerals LLC in San Bernadino County, CA. The Mountain Pass Lateral would deliver the gas necessary for Molycorp to generate electricity for its mining and processing operations. The Molycorp facility currently uses electricity from the local grid. The lateral would have a design capacity of 24,270 Dth/d, according to Kern River, which estimated the cost of the project at $15.7 million.

FERC Wednesday issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) of National Fuel Gas Supply Corp.’s Line N 2012 expansion project that would increase the takeaway capacity from the Marcellus Shale basin to serve Northeast markets.

Encana Corp. is continuing its plan to go deep for — and long on — natural gas liquids (NGL), taking the third step in a plan to triple NGL production from Alberta Deep Basin gas production over the next few years.