Illinois

A 10-inch diameter pipeline lateral carrying ethane-propane mix from Enterprise Products Partners’ Mid-America Pipeline System in Illinois exploded shortly before midnight Monday. The natural gas liquids (NGL) product burned, creating a large fire that has since been extinguished. No injuries were reported.

Illinois-based Gas Technology Institute (GTI) has signed two contracts with the California Energy Commission (CEC) totaling $3.5 million to support some energy projects in the West. With a satellite office in Davis, CA, GTI will help the CEC develop more economic natural gas-fired combined heat-power (CHP) systems and advanced waste heat recovery technology. GTI received a $1.8 million grant to develop flex-fuel CHP that can operate interchangeably on natural gas or biogas produced by anaerobic digesters at wastewater treatment plants and landfills. GTI also has a $1.73 million grant to demonstrate technology for converting high temperature (900 degrees F) exhaust gas waste heat into electricity on an average-sized industrial furnace.

A Pennsylvania joint venture is set to start work on two midstream assets that could ease a bottleneck in one of the fastest growing counties in the Marcellus Shale.

A Range Resources Corp. unit has signed on as an anchor customer for a new private pipeline system that would supply fresh water to natural gas producers drilling in the Marcellus Shale in north-central Pennsylvania.

While Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has said he would support limited expansion of oil and natural gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), the head of Frost & Sullivan’s North American energy practice said she couldn’t rule out the possibility that he may reinstate presidential restrictions on drilling if elected next week.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, in his speech Thursday night accepting the Democratic nomination for president, pledged to back exploration and production of natural gas if he is elected in November.

Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has signaled that he would be open to allowing drilling off certain coastal states as part of a larger compromise on energy policy, a shift in his position against repeal of the congressional ban on oil and natural gas activity in much of the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) last week approved a settlement in a Peoples Gas citation case in which the company failed to conduct corrosion control monitoring and to act promptly to fix problems. Peoples Gas will pay a $1 million penalty and must bring its system into compliance with applicable federal and state pipeline safety regulations.

The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) approved a settlement in a Peoples Gas citation case in which the company failed to conduct corrosion control monitoring and to act promptly to fix problems.Peoples Gas will pay a $1 million penalty and must bring its system into compliance with applicable federal and state pipeline safety regulations. Safety standards are designed to ensure protection of the physical condition of iron and steel pipelines, which may corrode over time due to chemical and electrochemical reactions. Cathodic protection reduces the corrosion rate of metal gas pipes and the gas system operator is responsible for ensuring that the protection devices are in place and working.