Green

For the third time, California regulators Thursday gave the green light to Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) to embark on a proposed $1 billion, multi-year transition to an advanced metering system consistent with what all of the state’s other private-sector utilities have been doing the past five years.

A state regulatory judge last Friday indicated that he is recommending that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) give a green light to a proposal to develop an underground natural gas storage field under a residential neighborhood in the southeast corner of Sacramento, but the assigned CPUC member has filed an alternative.

Western Gas Partners LP. agreed to acquire the Red Desert Complex and related assets, primarily located in the greater Green River Basin of southwestern Wyoming from parent Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for $483 million. Included in the purchase is Anadarko’s 100% ownership interest in Mountain Gas Resources LLC (MGR), which owns the Red Desert Complex, a 22% interest in Rendezvous Gas Services LLC and related facilities. Red Desert represents most of MGR’s cash flow (90%) and includes the Patrick Draw processing plant with a capacity of 125 MMcf/d, the Red Desert processing plant with a capacity of 48 MMcf/d, 1,295 miles of gathering lines and related facilities. Rendezvous owns a 338-mile mainline gathering system serving the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline fields in southwestern Wyoming, which delivers gas to WES’s Granger Complex and other locations. Red Desert and Rendezvous together are expected to generate more than 98% of MGR’s operating cash flows. The acquisition is scheduled to close in January.

FERC Friday gave Empire Pipeline Inc. the green light to place into service a major interconnection on its Tioga County Extension Project to transport Marcellus Shale production in Pennsylvania to the U.S.-Canadian border.

Northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale producers got some relief from sagging prices when El Paso Corp.’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. placed its long-awaited 300 Line forward-haul expansion in service, increasing capacity on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) system by 350 MMcf/d, a nearly 50% boost.

After relying entirely on pipeline deliveries into the United States to date, Canadian exporters received the green light Thursday to break into overseas markets for liquefied natural gas (LNG).

After relying entirely on pipeline deliveries into the United States to date, Canadian exporters received the green light Thursday to break into overseas markets for liquefied natural gas (LNG).

ETC Tiger Pipeline LLC, a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, has asked FERC for the green light to place into service by early August a 400 MMcf/d expansion of its system that services the Haynesville Shale and Bossier Sands.

ETC Tiger Pipeline LLC, a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, has asked FERC for the green light to place a 400 MMcf/d expansion of its system in service by early August.