February

A petition by Southern Natural Gas (SNG) pipeline to amend a stipulation and agreement requiring it to file a new rate case by the end of February has come under attack at FERC.

The administration of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett says new natural gas pipelines should be allowed to share rights-of-way (ROW) with roadways, one of 16 policy recommendations made to fulfill a requirement of the state’s new omnibus Marcellus Shale law, Act 13.

Penn Virginia Resource Partners LP (PVR) has begun service on a new 30-mile, 24-inch diameter trunkline serving Marcellus Shale producers in north-central Pennsylvania with 750 MMcf/d of capacity. The capacity gives producers shipping gas out of the Marcellus a way around constraints on Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s congested 300 Line.

A legislator in the Pennsylvania General Assembly introduced two bills on Wednesday to amend the state constitution and make the secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) a commissioner post elected by the public, rather than one appointed by the governor.

With rig counts, prices and liquids all moving up, the incidence of natural gas flaring in the Bakken Shale play is expected to continue to decline throughout this year, the head of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, Ron Ness, told NGI’s Shale Daily Wednesday, responding to questions about a report on the state’s record-setting oil/gas operations from the state Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).

Constitution Pipeline Co. LLC, a development launched in February by frequent partners Williams Partners LP and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., on Tuesday executed precedent agreements for the proposed 121-mile natural gas pipeline, designed to connect Marcellus Shale production in northeastern Pennsylvania to Northeast markets by spring 2015.

Lower 48 gas production in January climbed half a percent or 0.36 Bcf/d, to a record 72.85 Bcf/d, mainly thanks to production gains in states in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) “other states” category, which included drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich will reportedly unveil a proposal next week to restructure state taxes on oil and gas drilling — including implementing new taxes on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and natural gas liquids (NGLs) — then pass the savings along to Ohioans in the form of a personal income tax cut.

Natural gas production in the Lower 48 states declined by 0.2% to 72.54 Bcf/d in December from November’s record 72.68 Bcf/d. It was the first monthly decline in Lower 48 production since February 2011, according to figures released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).