Gathering

From the mandate of state legislation (SB 1358) passed this year and two years earlier, North Dakota’s oil/natural gas regulators in the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) have built a new unit for the first time to oversee the construction, operation and maintenance of the state’s expanding gathering pipeline systems.

Devon Energy Corp.’s majority owned EnLink Midstream is expanding its reach in Oklahoma with a $1.55 billion deal to acquire Tall Oak Midstream LLC, considered a key element to Devon’s growth in the state’s stacked reservoirs.

Executives with Targa Resources Corp. (TRGP) were on the defensive with analysts Tuesday after the company announced it would fold its master limited partnership (MLP), Targa Resources Partners LP (NGLS), in an all-stock deal valued at $6.67 billion.

A bill has been introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate that would give state regulators more oversight of rural natural gas pipelines and associated facilities that are not already regulated by the federal government.

SandRidge Energy Inc. is buying the Pinon Gathering Co. LLC from EIG Global Energy Partners for $48 million cash and $78 million in senior secured notes. Pinon owns 370 miles of gathering lines supporting SandRidge natural gas and carbon dioxide production from the Pinion field in West Texas.

Dominion Transmission Inc. (DTI) has filed with FERC for authorization to abandon all of its natural gas gathering and processing facilities in Pennsylvania and West Virginia so they can be spun-off into a newly created, non-jurisdictional affiliate company.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) has struck a deal with units of Williams Partners LP that gives it a break on natural gas gathering fees in the Haynesville and Utica shales while it agrees to increase production/volume commitments to Williams’ pipes.

North Dakota’s legislature this year passed a law that will expand the state’s oversight of the oil/natural gas industry to gathering pipelines, a growing part of the industry infrastructure.

MarkWest Energy Partners LP said Thursday that it would develop a more than 2 Bcf/d natural gas gathering system in Southeast Ohio’s Utica Shale that would be supported by a long-term, fee-based contract with Ascent Resources LLC.