Infrastructure

Infrastructure constraints during the second quarter put a crimp in SM Energy Co.’s operated Eagle Ford Shale output, prompting the Denver-based company to divert some capital to the Permian Basin, where getting production to market is easier for the time being. And a steep drop in net income pummeled the Denver-based producer’s shares.

Natural gas liquids (NGL) drilling has begun to deteriorate in some U.S. basins, Baker Hughes Inc. CEO Martin Craighead said Friday.

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has completed its first multi-asset transaction with Chesapeake Energy Corp. to acquire the profitable midstream businesses, closing Monday on the $2 billion acquisition of Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP (CHKM).

Safety starts at the top of any organization, and the proof of that can be found in the wake of a number of infrastructure failures in recent years, a panel of experts said at a conference Tuesday convened by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in San Francisco.

Unconventional natural gas activity supported more than one million jobs in 2010, a number that is likely to grow to nearly 1.5 million by 2015. The industry is expected to generate significant job creation, economic growth and tax revenues nationwide — in producing and non-producing states alike — according to a new report from IHS Global Insight.

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which backed Chesapeake Energy Corp. as it launched its midstream business three years ago, on Friday agreed to buy all of the assets for more than $4 billion cash in a sale that had been rumored for days (see Daily GPI, June 7). Chesapeake would net about $2.4 billion from the sale and cut previously budgeted midstream capital spending over the next three years by $3 billion.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. on Friday agreed to sell its midstream businesses to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in three separate transactions for more than $4 billion in cash. Chesapeake would net about $2.4 billion and cut previously budgeted midstream capital spending over the next three years by $3 billion.

ExxonMobil Chemical recently made a regulatory filing to add a multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker and other facilities at its Baytown, TX, chemicals complex with the intention of taking advantage of cheap ethane being thrown off by liquids-rich shale gas plays.

U.S. energy independence won’t be achievable until at least 2030, even with a renewed focus on domestic energy resources, energy infrastructure and unconventionals, according to more than two-thirds of the energy executives responding to a new survey conducted by KPMG Global Energy Institute (GEI).