French

French manufacturer Vallourec SA said progress is continuing on a $650 million steel mill it is building in Youngstown, OH to produce seamless pipes for use in hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The seamless hot rolling pipe mill of subsidiary V&M Star plans to create about 350 direct jobs and have initial production of 350,000 tons/year, but it can be expanded to 500,000 tons/year. Production is expected to ramp up in the next few months. According to Vallourec, the new mill would produce 2 3/8-inch to 7-inch diameter pipe for use in fracking operations. The company said it wants to support customers in shale plays across the continent; it has field offices in the Marcellus, Utica, Haynesville and Barnett shales and in the Piceance Basin.

As has been rumored for weeks, French energy giant Total SA is paying $2.32 billion to acquire a one-quarter stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s massive Utica Shale leasehold in Ohio in the second big partnership targeting unconventional oil and gas between the companies.

French-based exploration/production company Total SA, just as many of its major global competitors in the traditional energy sector are doing, is branching out to the alternative energy space as a response to climate change policies pushing to shrink the world’s carbon footprint.

French-based exploration/production company Total SA, just as many of its major global competitors in the traditional energy sector are doing, is branching out to the alternative energy space as a response to climate change policies pushing to shrink the world’s carbon footprint.

Electricite de France (EDF) is buying Eagle Energy Partners from bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., EDF Trading, a subsidiary of the French utility giant, said on Monday. Eagle’s future has been in question since the company was excluded from a recent deal in which Barclays Capital Inc. acquired Lehman Brothers Inc. for $1.75 billion.

ANR is not accepting nominations at the French Lick (IN) Meter Station, an interconnect with Texas Eastern, until further notice. The station has been shut in due to measurement problems, ANR said Friday.

Texas Eastern said the investigation and repair of the pipeline break at the discharge of the French Lick station in Indiana continues. Until completion of the investigation and repair, receipts on the 24-inch diameter line will be restricted. For Oct. 17, it was not necessary to restrict nominations for gas leaving the constrained area due to reductions in requested volumes. However, Tetco said no incremental supply nominations can be accepted.

French-based Total is set to expand its liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations in North America by the end of the decade after signing a 20-year supply agreement with Nigeria LNG Ltd. The sale and purchase agreement, to begin in 2007, would supply subsidiary Total Gas & Power Ltd. with 1.3 Bcf/year of LNG for market expansion in the Western Hemisphere.