Liquids

Baker Hughes Inc. executives on Friday said the total U.S. rig count should fall on average by 8% this year from 2012, but with better drilling efficiencies, the onshore well count may only decline by 4% to around 35,000.

Williams’ board has voted to approve the company’s Bluegrass Pipeline project. The company has been engaged in development work on the proposed natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline, which has a targeted in-service date of late 2015. The Bluegrass Pipeline will connect supply from the Marcellus and Utica shales to growing petrochemical and export markets in the U.S. Gulf Coast (see Shale Daily, May 30; March 7). The pipeline also will connect NGL supply with the developing petrochemical market in the U.S. Northeast. Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP in May formalized joint-venture agreements tied to the project and related fractionation, storage and export projects.

Century Midstream LLC, whose focus primarily will be to develop and expand emerging liquids plays across North America, was launched Wednesday by private equity energy firm First Reserve Corp. and a team of seasoned midstream veterans.

In an effort to revive his plan to levy new severance taxes on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and natural gas liquids (NGL), Ohio Gov. John Kasich has proposed giving 25% of the tax proceeds to 33 counties in the state’s Appalachian region, home to Ohio’s Utica Shale drilling.

Crosstex NGL Pipeline LP is holding a binding open season through June 21 for capacity on a new natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline system (the Crosstex NGL Pipeline) to transport unfractionated NGLs produced in the Permian Basin, Barnett Shale, Eagle Ford Shale and other areas from the Mont Belvieu, TX, area to NGL fractionation facilities in Acadia and Ascension Parishes, LA, for about one year and to NGL fractionation facilities in Acadia and Iberville Parishes, LA, thereafter. The pipeline is expected to have a preliminary design capacity to Acadia Parish of 77,000 b/d for the first year and is expected to reach 132,000 b/d thereafter. For information, contact Terry Brown at (214) 953-9510, or terry.brown@crosstexenergy.com.

Officials with EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP) say the company is still looking to sell thousands of wet gas acres in the Utica Shale and is looking for one or more joint venture (JV) partners in the play to develop the volatile oil window.

Energy infrastructure giant Williams, whose pipeline partnership holds a bundle of huge natural gas and liquids operations, expects to see “full ethane rejection” through 2015, which will lead to “near-term headwinds” for the unit, CEO Alan Armstrong said last week.

Energy infrastructure giant Williams, whose pipeline partnership holds a bundle of huge natural gas and liquids operations in the Northeast, expects to see “full ethane rejection” through 2015, which will lead to “near-term headwinds” for the unit, CEO Alan Armstrong said Wednesday.

While two pipeline projects have been proposed to move natural gas liquids (NGL) out of the Northeast to the Gulf Coast, more capacity will be needed to keep the Marcellus/Utica Shale region from becoming overwhelmed with NGLs, a Williams executive said at Wells Fargo Securities’ recent Energy Fundamentals Forum in Houston.