Intrastate

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) has completed two natural gas compression projects to increase capacity on its intrastate Cleburne to Carthage gas pipeline in East Texas, and it’s now readying another gas pipe to carry more Barnett Shale production to market hubs in the state.

Mixed cash price movement continued Wednesday, but there were no gains outside the still-recovering Rockies other than on intrastate Midcontinent pipe OGT. Softness dominated the rest of the market despite producers starting to evacuate Gulf of Mexico facilities because of relatively light cooling load in most areas and the screen’s 8.5-cent decline Tuesday being followed up by a much larger loss Wednesday.

Nonbinding interest in a recently completed open season may cause the sponsors of a proposed new intrastate transmission pipeline in Oregon to increase its maximum capacity from 1 Bcf/d to 1.5 Bcf/d, according to a senior executive at PG&E Corp. speaking last Thursday on a first quarter earnings conference call.

Nonbinding interest in a recently completed open season may cause the sponsors of a proposed new intrastate transmission pipeline in Oregon to increase its maximum capacity from 1 Bcf/d to 1.5 Bcf/d, according to a senior executive at PG&E Corp. speaking Thursday on a first quarter earnings conference call.

FERC last Monday gave the environmental go-ahead for Trunkline Gas Co.’s proposed pipeline expansion to increase access to Texas’ growing natural gas production, storage fields, pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.

Enbridge Energy Partners agreed to sell 627 miles of gas gathering, 121 miles of intrastate pipeline and five gas treating plants in Texas and Oklahoma for $106 million to San Antonio-based TexStar Field Services LP. The sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter. The assets included 327 miles of gas gathering pipeline, 121 miles of transmission pipeline and a gas treating facility located in South Texas. Also included is a 300-mile northeastern Texas gas and products gathering system, the Eustace gas processing and treating plant and three other gas treating facilities.

Duke Energy Field Services (DEFS) closed the purchase of 1,000 miles of gathering pipeline, the 75-mile Raptor intrastate pipeline system, as well as processing assets in southeast New Mexico from ConocoPhillips for $74 million. The assets include the Hobbs, Antelope Ridge and Zia processing plants with total capacity of 112 MMcf/d. “These assets acquired from ConocoPhillips allow DEFS to capture synergies from our existing asset base in southeast New Mexico,” said DEFS Chairman Bill Easter. “They will further enhance our ability to gather and process all types of gas, improve system flexibility and increase service offerings for our customers.”

The strength of the upstream sector holds the key to the performance of integrated oil and gas companies going forward, as poor quarterly earnings and lower forecasts going into 2003 require independents and majors to rethink their operating strategies.

More than six months after California regulators approved a comprehensive settlement for the unbundling of Southern California Gas Co.’s intrastate pipeline transmission and storage system, the deal has yet to be implemented, and its prospects are uncertain at best, a SoCalGas official told an industry audience in San Diego Thursday.