Launch

Cheniere Energy Partners LP said it will soon launch the syndication of two new credit facilities totaling about $2 billion. The new senior secured syndicated credit facilities include $750 million at Cheniere Partners and $1.3 billion at Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC. Proceeds from the Cheniere Energy Partners credit facility will be used to fund the acquisition of the Creole Trail Pipeline, to pay for pipeline improvement and modification costs and for other purposes. Proceeds from the Sabine Pass Liquefaction credit facility will be used to fund the costs of developing, constructing and placing into service the first two liquefaction trains of the Sabine Pass LNG liquefaction project. Closing is expected by the end of the second quarter in conjunction with the closing of equity financing and the purchase of the Creole Trail Pipeline. Cheniere Energy Partners recently announced several deals intended to fund the Sabine Pass liquefaction project (see Daily GPI, May 16).

MarkWest Energy Partners LP is building out its services for Appalachian rich-gas producers with the $512 million acquisition of Pennsylvania-based Keystone Midstream Services LLC.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., which continues to shed assets or secure partners to pare debt, late Monday laid plans to launch its diverse onshore oilfield services unit through an initial public offering (IPO), but the separate company would continue to be closely tied to its main customer, the Oklahoma City-based producer.

Royal Dutch Shell plc soon plans to launch a natural gas-to-liquids (GTL) business in the United States, a company executive said in Houston on Thursday.

E. Russell (Rusty) Braziel, a 30-year energy industry veteran, has left Bentek Energy to launch an energy industry networking and consulting business based in Houston. RBN Energy, which stands for Rusty Braziel’s Network, looks to gather people with complementary skills and needs within the industry to take advantage of advances in social networks that have been advanced by Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and others, but with the added advantage of being a managed platform that continuously monitors the latest developments in energy markets, and uses that information to “get the right people” together. “Energy markets are big, complicated and can be daunting,” Braziel noted on RBN’s website www.rbnenergy.com. “Today these markets are going through some of the biggest changes in decades. Shale and tight sands technologies first hit the natural gas business, resulting in huge supply surpluses over the past three years. As we enter 2012, natural gas liquids and crude oil markets are experiencing the same phenomenon.” Braziel joined Bentek in 2005 as vice president of sales and marketing and was one of the company’s owners until its acquisition by Platts in January 2011. Braziel spent 20 years with Chevron Corp. predecessor company Texaco as vice president of natural gas marketing and trading and manager of natural gas liquids supply. Subsequently he was vice president of business development for Williams. Braziel also founded Altra Energy Technologies, a developer of energy transaction management software and electronic trading systems, including the Chalkboard Trading System (now IntercontinentalExchange).

Royal Dutch Shell plc is readying the launch of natural gas-to-liquids (GTL) business in the United States, a company executive said in Houston on Thursday.

Texas environmental regulators are planning to launch monitoring of Eagle Ford Shale air emissions some time this year. What has been learned from ongoing emissions monitoring in the Barnett Shale will be applied in the South Texas play, an engineer with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) told NGI.

Texas environmental regulators are planning to launch monitoring of Eagle Ford Shale air emissions some time next year. What has been learned from ongoing emissions monitoring in the Barnett Shale will be applied in the South Texas play, an engineer with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) told NGI’s Shale Daily.

Canadian and industry officials met in Ottawa earlier this month to launch a road map to expand the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel across the country.