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Natural gas prices and flexible gas-fired power generation are two keys to California’s attempt to deal with the impact of more renewable-based and decentralized power supplies, according to the CEOs of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) and Southern California Edison Co. (SCE).

Private energy equity behemoth Riverstone Holdings LLC has raised $7.7 billion to invest in energy businesses, exceeding its original $6 billion target, the firm said Wednesday.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) said it will invest $107 million to expand its Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate pipeline system (KMCC) deeper into the Eagle Ford Shale play in Karnes County, TX. The expansion, supported by a long-term contract with ConocoPhillips, will extend the 178-mile pipeline 31 miles from the KMCC DeWitt Station in DeWitt County, TX, to ConocoPhillips’ central delivery facility near Helena in Karnes County. Kinder Morgan will also build receipt tanks and a truck unloading facility adjacent to ConocoPhillips’ Helena facility. Construction is expected to begin in July. “This expansion further assists our commitment to deliver up to 300,000 b/d of crude and condensate from the Eagle Ford Shale,” said KMP products pipelines President Ron McClain.

Denver-based Enservco Corp., a provider of well-site services, said it will invest $6 million in capital expenditures during 2013, with $4.7 million being allocated to new equipment fabrication. The budget also includes $1.3 million for enhancements to existing equipment. Management estimates the annualized revenue potential from the new equipment at about $10 million. The equipment includes nine frack heating trucks with a total of 12 burner boxes, four hot oilers and two well acidizing trucks. The investments will expand the company’s frack heating capacity by 40% and increase its hot oiling fleet by 15%. Enservco said sales during April reached $3.7 million, up 85% from one year ago. The improvement was fueled in part by cool spring temperatures across the company’s service territories, as well as sustained demand for fluid heating services, particularly in regions where new fracking techniques require higher water temperatures than traditional frack designs.

Crosstex Energy Inc. will invest about $25 million in a third natural gas compression and condensate stabilization facility in the Ohio River Valley through E2, a company Crosstex formed in March with former management of Enerven Compression Services to serve Utica Shale producers.

Double Eagle Energy Holdings and private equity firm Apollo Global Management have formed a partnership to invest in oil and natural gas properties in Oklahoma, focusing primarily on the Anadarko and Ardmore basins. Fort Worth, TX-based Double Eagle already has more than 500,000 acres across Texas and the Midcontinent, according to Co-CEO Cody Campbell. The partnership with Apollo “will provide a great opportunity to expand and continue our land-centered approach to oil and gas asset acquisition, which has proven successful over the last several years,” he said. Last year, Apollo led a consortium of private equity investors in a $7.15 billion leveraged buyout of El Paso Corp.’s exploration and production business, which included an array of liquids-rich U.S. unconventional property extending across Texas, Louisiana, the Raton Basin and the Rocky Mountains (see Shale Daily, Feb. 28, 2012).

Private equity (PE) upstream investor Ridgewood Energy Corp. is partnering with a fund managed by Riverstone Holdings LLC to invest more than $550 million in a series of deepwater exploration projects in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

ExxonMobil Corp. last week announced plans to invest close to $190 billion over the next five years to more than double exploration acreage in proven and emerging oil-rich areas to boost underperforming output and earnings. The amount comes to about $38 billion of upstream spending a year, or about $1 billion more than ExxonMobil spent in 2012 and a new record for the company.

ExxonMobil Corp. on Wednesday announced plans to invest close to $190 billion over the next five years to more than double exploration acreage in proven and emerging oil-rich areas to boost underperforming output and earnings.