Distribution

MarkWest Energy Partners is getting ready for “explosive growth” in the Northeast “in 2013 and beyond,” CEO Frank Semple said Thursday. Next year, natural gas liquids (NGL) processing in the Marcellus and Utica shales combined should increase to 4.8 Bcf/d from 2.7 Bcf/d to serve producer customers.

Not all of the Northeast natural gas distribution companies survived Superstorm Sandy unscathed. National Grid, the largest gas distributor in the region, reported that parts of its system sustained heavy damages.

A Philadelphia councilman wants Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), which is the nation’s largest municipally owned natural gas utility, to use natural gas produced in the Marcellus Shale instead of Gulf of Mexico (GOM) gas received via pipeline.

Ten people were reportedly killed Tuesday following a fire at a natural gas pipeline distribution center near the South Texas-Mexico border.

As part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s recent distribution of $30 million aimed at advancing the natural gas vehicles (NGV), two separate projects are examining breakthroughs in fueling to make the vehicle operator more independent of public refueling stations.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) plans to expand its natural gas work force by 1,400 positions and centralize overall control of its nearly 50,000 miles of transmission and distribution pipelines by 2015, according to a 45-page plan the San Francisco-based combination utility filed Friday with state regulators.

Along with billions of dollars to make over its natural gas pipeline system, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) with 50,000 miles of distribution and transmission pipes is depending on all of its employees to speak up in identifying unsafe equipment, systems and processes, PG&E gas executive Nick Stavropoulos told NGI.

The natural gas industry, from production fields to distribution utilities, is beginning to ramp up efforts to smooth the road to greater use of natural gas as a transportation fuel, according to Encana Corp. Vice President David Hill. He talked to NGI Tuesday at the opening of the Alternative Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Long Beach, CA.

Portland, OR-based NW Natural has accelerated a utility rate decrease for its distribution utility customers in Oregon and Washington, asking regulators in both states to approve rate decreases totaling $39 million. Separately last Friday, CEO Gregg Kantor also reported during a 1Q2012 earnings conference call that the company’s joint venture drilling program with a unit of Encana Corp. and a merchant gas storage project in California passed important milestones during the quarter.