Holding

Tennessee Gas Pipeline has filed a complaint in federal court in Scranton, PA, to enjoin the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) from holding a hearing Monday (Jan. 14) to consider environmentalists’ petitions to block the pipeline’s Northeast Upgrade Project.

Enterprise Products Partners LP affiliate Panola Pipeline Co. LLC is holding a binding open season through Jan. 11 for a proposed expansion of the Carthage, TX, to Lufkin, TX, segment of its natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline system. The Panola Pipeline runs 181 miles pipeline from a point near Carthage in Panola County and supports the Haynesville and Cotton Valley oil and gas production areas. It extends to points at Mont Belvieu in Chambers County, TX, enabling shippers to access the world’s largest NGL fractionation complex, including facilities owned and operated by Enterprise. The Panola expansion would be designed to accommodate about 15,000 b/d of incremental capacity, depending upon shipper interest, and would involve installing pumps and related equipment. The additional capacity would be available during the second quarter. For information, contact Chad Aldrich at (713) 381-6427 or cjaldrich@eprod.com.

Once a high-flying global merchant power plant developer/operator tied to one of the top U.S. energy holding companies, Edison Mission Energy (EME) crash landed Monday with a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

With production out of the nation’s shale plays holding down natural gas prices and electricity generation becoming ever more dependent on inexpensive gas, coordination between the two markets will continue to be a top priority and a series of other issues need to be resolved, according to panelists at the Energy Bar Association (EBA) Mid-Year conference in Washington, DC, Friday.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy has authorized a unit of Cambridge Energy Holding LLC to export domestically sourced liquefied natural gas (LNG) to free trade agreement (FTA) parties from a proposed Louisiana terminal under multiple contracts.

Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline Inc. is holding a binding open season through Dec. 7 for expansion capacity proposed to carry production from the Granite Wash, Cleveland/Tonkawa and Mississippian Lime areas to markets in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri as well as other intrastate and interstate pipelines. The Straight Blackwell Expansion would involve expanding the capacity of Southern Star’s system beginning in Texas County, OK, along the Straight Blackwell Line (Line Segment 315) extending east to its Blackwell Compressor Station in Kay County, OK. Customer interest will dictate whether Southern Star pursues the expansion and will help define the final parameters of any project, the company said. Southern Star said if the project proceeds, it will, subject to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval, install the necessary facilities to serve all or a portion of the requested capacity. Expansion service could begin Oct. 1. For more information, contact Philip Rullman at (270) 852-4440, Jim Neukam at (270) 852-4665, Pat Coomes at (270) 852-4552, Robbie Clark at (270)-852-4577, or Dale Sanders at (270) 852-4666.

Oneok Partners LP is holding an open season through Dec. 17 for its 600-mile Bakken Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Pipeline, which would transport unfractionated NGLs from the Bakken Shale in the Williston Basin to an interconnection with the partnership’s 50%-owned Overland Pass Pipeline in northern Colorado. The Bakken NGL Pipeline is under construction and is expected to be in service during the first quarter. In July Oneok said it would expand the project with additional pump stations in a project to be completed during the third quarter of 2014. For open season information, contact Lisa Nishimuta at (918) 588-7730, lisa.nishimuta@oneok.com.

San Diego-based Sempra Energy CEO Debra Reed, 56, has been elected chairman of the energy holding company to replace Donald Felsinger, 65, who retires at the end November after 40 years. Reed was named CEO last year and has worked for Sempra companies for the past 34 years (see Daily GPI, June 29, 2011). She previously worked for Sempra’s Southern California Gas Co. utility.

Dallas-based Exco Resources Inc. and New York-based holding company Harbinger Group Inc. (HGI) have formed a partnership to exploit Exco assets in East Texas, North Louisiana and West Texas in a deal worth $725 million. It gives HGI a foothold in energy that is also a bet on rising natural gas prices.