Drawing

ExxonMobil is drawing closer to completing its $41 billion acquisition of U.S. independent XTO Energy Inc. The company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that the deal cleared regulatory hurdles in the U.S. and The Netherlands.

With the year drawing to a close, Barclays Capital analysts compiled a “best of” list for what they considered to be the 10 biggest surprises in the natural gas market in 2009 and implications for 2010.

With the year drawing to a close, Barclays Capital analysts compiled a “best of” list for what they considered to be the 10 biggest surprises in the natural gas market in 2009 and implications for 2010.

El Paso Corp., which has doubled its natural gas pipeline backlog from a year ago with eight projects on the drawing board, delivered a solid quarterly report, with profit rising 22%.

El Paso Corp., which has doubled its natural gas pipeline backlog from a year ago with eight projects on the drawing board, delivered a solid quarterly report on Wednesday, with profit rising 22% from a year ago.

With the Appalachian Basin’s Marcellus Shale drawing more interest from producers, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on Friday initiated a public process to review its oil and natural gas regulations to include rules for horizontal gas drilling activities.

A proposed coalbed methane (CBM) project in British Columbia’s Elk Valley is drawing opposition on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border. BP plc’s Canadian subsidiary in January announced it would spend C$1 billion to develop the Mist Mountain CBM Gas Project in the province’s Crowsnest Coalfield (see Daily GPI, Jan. 28). BP also entered into a commercial agreement with Elk Valley Coal to evaluate CBM opportunities on the Elk Valley acreage. However, the city council in Fernie, BC, wants to prevent the Elk Valley development. The council unanimously passed a resolution that provincial regulators rescind or not issue leases to BP to explore or develop the Elk Valley region because of the possible environmental contamination. The tourism industry in Fernie, which is about 50 miles north of Montana, could be jeopardized, the council stated. Because the Elk River sends water into Montana’s Lake Koocanusa, which is near Glacier National Park, some U.S. stakeholders also have voiced their opposition to BP’s plans. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) said in February that the potential CBM project in the Elk Valley was a “worry” for Montana because of possible contamination to the border-straddling Lake Koocanusa. Provincial officials said environmental reviews are their top priority, and concern in Fernie and Montana is premature. Also, not all of the area’s residents are opposed to the CBM proposal, noted BC’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. The ministry said it would consider the Fernie opposition, but it also will consider other regional stakeholders that are in favor of the development.

Oneok Partners LP is drawing up plans to build a natural gas liquids (NGL) gathering pipeline to connect two gas processing plants in the Woodford Shale play in southeast Oklahoma to the partnership’s Midcontinent gathering system. These two plants would have the ability to produce 25,000 bbl/d of raw NGL. The 78-mile pipeline extension would transport raw NGL from a gas processing plant being built by Devon Energy Corp. in Hughes County, OK, and a recently constructed gas processing plant owned by Antero Resources Midstream Corp. in Coal County, OK. The $25 million extension of six- and eight-inch diameter pipeline is scheduled for completion in 2Q2008. Oneok Partner’s Arbuckle Pipeline, which is expected to be complete by early 2009, is designed to initially transport up to 160,000 bbl/d of raw NGL (see NGI, Oct. 15, 2007). Originating from the partnership’s existing Midcontinent NGL network in Oklahoma, the 440-mile pipeline would pass through the Barnett Shale area and connect with the existing fractionation facility at Mont Belvieu and other Gulf Coast-area fractionators.

Oneok Partners LP is drawing up plans to build a natural gas liquids (NGL) gathering pipeline to connect two gas processing plants in the Woodford Shale play in southeast Oklahoma to the partnership’s Midcontinent gathering system.