Eagle

NuStar Logistics has reactivated and plans to operate its 60-mile Pettus South Pipeline to transport Eagle Ford crude oil to Corpus Christi, TX, part of its agreement with Koch Pipeline Co. LP, a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc. The move will add 30,000 b/d of capacity to the Koch system, which totals about 540 miles in South Texas. In May 2010 Koch completed projects to expand its crude oil and gas condensates capacity by 25,000 b/d, then added another 50,000 b/d of crude and condensate capacity through an agreement with Arrowhead Pipeline LP in September 2010.

Alliance Pipeline LP said Hess Corp. has contracted for capacity on a North Dakota pipeline lateral and associated facilities it plans to construct to carry liquids-rich gas from the Williston Basin.

Active rigs in U.S. shale and tight sands basins gained 1% in the week ending April 1 to hit 981 rigs, up from 972 the previous week, according to NGI’s Shale Daily Unconventional Rig Count.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead on Monday expressed concerns on Plains Exploration and Production Co.’s (PXP) master development plan for Eagle Prospect and Noble Basin, which calls for drilling 136 wells from 17 pads in the Bridger Teton National Forest. Mead sent a letter outlining his concerns to the supervisor for Bridger-Teton in the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).

Philadelphia officials on Tuesday directed the city-owned natural gas utility not to buy Marcellus Shale gas until more is known about the safety of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).

A trio of Bayer AG-owned sites in West Virginia totaling about 1,480 acres would be ideal locations for thermal crackers to process ethane from the state’s Marcellus Shale area, the company said.

Given the difference in prices for natural gas liquids (NGL) and dry gas, NGL content in the Eagle Ford Shale “makes for a much more pleasant experience” for producers there, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) Chief Rich Kinder told financial analysts Wednesday. And burgeoning activity in the South Texas play has filled up a KMP midstream project there.

Given the difference in prices for natural gas liquids (NGL) and dry gas, NGL content in the Eagle Ford Shale “makes for a much more pleasant experience” for producers there, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) Chief Rich Kinder told financial analysts last week. And burgeoning activity in the South Texas play has filled up a KMP midstream project there.

A unit of Japan’s ITOCHU Corp. is to acquire a one-quarter interest in Niobrara oil shale acreage in southeastern Wyoming, marking the first time a Japanese company is participating in a U.S. oil shale project.