Facility

Upcoming successes, particularly with major natural gas infrastructure projects, should help San Diego-based Sempra Energy offset a one-time 2Q2013 charge and annual revenue losses due to its minority share in a closed nuclear power plant in Southern California, CEO Debra Reed said Tuesday during a second quarter conference call with financial analysts in which she reported increased profits for the quarter and first half of 2013.

The number of Marcellus Shale natural gas wells waiting on infrastructure provided by Access Midstream Partners LP has fallen by more than half since the end of 2012, CEO J. Mike Stice said Wednesday.

Constitution Pipeline Co. LLC, fully subscribed to carry at least 650,000 Dth/d of natural gas from northern Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale to Northeast markets, on Friday gained a new investor.

EnerVest Ltd. hasn’t nailed down buyers for some of its Utica Shale portfolio in Ohio, but there is plenty of interest in the big leasehold. Now it’s a matter of getting the right prices and the right terms, CEO John Walker said Tuesday.

HollyFrontier Corp. and Holly Energy Partners LP are collaborating to construct a rail facility that will enable crude oil loading and unloading near HollyFrontier’s Artesia and/or Lovington, NM, refining facilities. The rail project, which will be connected to Holly Energy’s crude oil pipeline system in southeastern New Mexico, will have an initial capacity of up to 70,000 b/d and will enable access to a variety of crude oil types including West Texas Intermediate, West Texas Sour and Western Canadian Select. The project will provide additional crude oil takeaway options for producers as crude production in the region continues to grow, and an expanded set of crude oil sourcing options for HollyFrontier. Completion is expected by early 2014.

Ridgeline Energy Services Inc. said it plans to construct a water treatment facility in the Marcellus Shale near Punxsutawney, PA. The Calgary-based company said it had executed an agreement for an initial single train commercial installation (STCI) that would concentrate on produced water, with an anchor customer providing about 2,500-4,000 b/d of wastewater. Ridgeline said it was looking to build additional permanent installations in the same production area and expand its presence in western Pennsylvania. Installation of the first STCI is to begin in about a month.

Midstates Petroleum Co. Inc. is buying producing properties, as well as developed and undeveloped acreage, in the Anadarko Basin in Texas and Oklahoma for $620 million in cash from Panther Energy LLC and its partners Red Willow Mid-Continent LLC and Linn Energy Holdings LLC.

As one of the hottest growing hydrocarbon areas in North America, North Dakota’s legislature has been immersed this year with various proposals to deal with oil and natural gas-related issues. So far, the stakeholders embroiled in the debate are not sure which, if any, bills will make it through the legislative meat grinder.

Idaho regulators last Friday gave Intermountain Gas Co. emergency authority to sell up to 100,000 gallons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Nampa, ID, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility to aid residents at nearby West Yellowstone, MT, where LNG shortages are anticipated due to a power outage that could leave residents without heating fuel, a spokesperson for the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) said. West Yellowstone’s natural gas supplier, Energy West, notified Intermountain last Thursday that its chief supplier had been shut down because of a power outage in southwest Wyoming. The power outage, combined with a cold snap, left Energy West in a tough position for finding alternative LNG sources, the PUC spokesperson said. Intermountain, which isn’t authorized to sell LNG, said it had adequate LNG supplies in storage, and Energy West has a truck-trailer it can use to transport the emergency fuel. Charges for the emergency supplies will be determined after Intermountain files an LNG tariff schedule with the PUC.