Enterprise

FERC invoked its emergency authority Friday under the Interstate Commerce Act to help alleviate “dangerously low” propane supplies to consumers in the Midwest and Northeast.

To avoid critical shortages by the end of February, propane gas shippers have asked FERC for an emergency order to allow, or if necessary direct, Enterprise TE Products Pipeline Co. LLC to temporarily provide priority treatment to propane shipments from Mont Belvieu, TX.

Citing “dangerously low” propane supplies throughout the country, but particularly in the Midwest and Northeast, the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) has asked FERC for an emergency order to allow, or if necessary direct, Enterprise TE Products Pipeline Company LLC to temporarily provide priority treatment to propane shipments from Mont Belvieu, TX.

Two contract workers were treated for non-serious injuries and released following a fire that broke out Tuesday morning at Enterprise Products Partners LP’s Morgan’s Point marine terminal in La Porte, TX, along the Houston Ship Channel.

Houston-based Rock River Resources plans to build a crude oil processing plant and rail terminaling facility in Green River, UT. Called the Emery project, it will require a capital investment of over $230 million. Groundbreaking is planned for the first phase of the project later this year with operations expected in 2014. “Rock River Resources has received strong support from state and local community leaders and we have worked closely with them during the early phases of the project,” said COO Jeff Beicker. The first segment of the project will include a terminaling and rail loading facility. The terminaling facility is projected to be operational in 2014. The second segment will be a 10,000 b/d topping plant that will process local crudes and condensates into naphtha, fuel oil, diesel and jet fuel. The topping plant should be operational by mid-2015. The final segment of the project will be a processing plant for regional wax crudes that will produce refined paraffin waxes and lube oils. The wax plant should be operational by mid 2016.

FERC Monday approved a stipulation and consent agreement that resolved charges that Enterprise Texas Pipeline LLC charged its shippers an unauthorized title transfer and tracking (TTT) fee that was not posted in the company’s Commission-approved statement of operating conditions.

A 10-inch diameter pipeline lateral carrying ethane-propane mix from Enterprise Products Partners’ Mid-America Pipeline System in Illinois exploded shortly before midnight Monday. The natural gas liquids (NGL) product burned, creating a large fire that has since been extinguished. No injuries were reported.

The opening of the Mariner West I ethane pipeline and new processing plants should provide some relief to current wet gas constraints in the Marcellus and Utica shales, and the plays should be largely de-bottlenecked by the end of next year, according to analysts at Barclays.

Casper, WY-based Moser Energy Systems, a privately held, 40-year-old family-run enterprise, has found a steadily growing market for its natural gas-fueled industrial-grade engines in the hottest of the shale plays: the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas.