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Two natural gas midstream operators in western Pennsylvania have agreed to improve their facilities after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said they failed to comply with Clean Air Act (CAA) rules to prevent accidental releases of flammable substances.

Forecasters at Colorado State University (CSU) expect the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially begins June 1, will have more activity than the median 1981-2010 season, with an estimated 18 named storms, including nine hurricanes, four of them major (Category 3 or higher) — significantly higher numbers than CSU predicted prior to the 2012 hurricane season (see Daily GPI, April 16, 2012).

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has notified victims of Enron Corp.’s fraud and 2001 bankruptcy that they have until April 17 to object to a possible resentencing agreement with imprisoned former CEO Jeffrey Skilling. Skilling, 59, has served more than six years of a 24-year prison term after he was convicted by a Houston jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in May 2006 on 19 criminal counts for securities fraud, conspiracy, making false statements to auditors and insider trading (see NGI, May 29, 2006). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans reaffirmed the conviction in 2011, finding that the federal government’s evidence of conspiracy was “overwhelming,” but it reiterated, as it had in 2009, that the sentence had been miscalculated by the district court (see NGI, April 11, 2011). The resentencing issue was remanded to the lower court (U.S. v. Skilling, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 04-cr-00025).

Low natural gas prices have hit Pennsylvania, where deep-shale drilling fees collected last year fell about 3% from 2011, according to state data.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) and BP North America have struck a long-term, fee-based agreement supporting an additional 50,000 b/d of throughput capacity at a condensate processing facility KMP is constructing on the Houston Ship Channel.

North American-based units of Royal Dutch Shell plc and Volvo Trucks have agreed to “collaborate and coordinate” on liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology in heavy duty commercial vehicles.

PDC Energy Inc. has signed a midstream services agreement with MarkWest Utica EMG LLC and plans to nearly double its capital expenditures (capex) in the Utica Shale for 2013 while also increasing its estimated net production.

Natural gas spot prices, which averaged $2.75/MMBtu at the Henry Hub last year and $3.33 last month, are expected to climb to an average of $3.41 this year and $3.63 in 2014, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Although drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale has slowed and some producers have dropped rigs, there is enough of a drilling backlog that, if wells were brought online over a one-year period, production would continue to grow but at a slower pace, energy analysts with Barclays Capital said.