Mexico

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) report on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water resources will likely be finalized in 2016, the agency said Wednesday.

Noble Energy Inc. announced that a second appraisal well targeting the Gunflint prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has successfully encountered 109 feet of net pay within the primary reservoir.

Atlas Energy LP (ATLS) exploration and production (E&P) subsidiary Atlas Resource Partners LP (ARP) is buying 466 Bcf of natural gas proved reserves in the Raton (New Mexico) and Black Warrior (Alabama) basins from EP Energy E&P Co. LP (EP Energy), a unit of EP Energy LLC, for $733 million.

FERC has cleared the way for Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC to sell more than 1,300 miles of pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), known as the Supply Area Facilities, to Kinetica Energy Express LLC, allowing the pipeline to exit the offshore business and shift its attention to the onshore shale market.

FERC has cleared the way for Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC to sell more than 1,300 miles of pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), known as the Supply Area Facilities, to Kinetica Energy Express LLC, allowing the pipeline to exit the offshore business and shift its attention to the onshore shale market.

Gulf of Mexico explorer McMoRan Exploration Co. (MMR) is no longer a publicly traded stock after shareholders on Monday (June 3) approved a merger with a subsidiary of affiliated conglomerate Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Under a friendly agreement in late 2012, Freeport agreed to pay close to $3 billion for MMR and more than $9 billion including debt for Plains Exploration & Production Co.; the Plains deal closed at the end of May (see Daily GPI, June 3; Dec. 6, 2012). Freeport Chairman Jim Bob Moffatt co-chaired McMoRan with Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson. MMR shareholders are to receive $14.75/share in cash, or $2.2 billion for shares not owned by Freeport, as well as 1.15 units in Gulf Coast Ultra Deep Royalty Trust, which would hold a 5% overriding royalty stake in future output from 20 specified ultra-deep exploration targets.

FERC has authorized Discovery Gas Transmission LLC to construct a platform and pipeline facilities in South Timbalier Block 283 in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to extend its system and provide firm transportation for new deepwater natural gas sources in the southeast quadrant of Keathley Canyon, “a frontier area for oil and gas exploration and development.”

FERC has authorized Discovery Gas Transmission LLC to construct a new platform and pipeline facilities in South Timbalier Block 283 in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to extend its system and provide firm transportation for new deepwater natural gas sources in the southeast quadrant of Keathley Canyon, “a frontier area for oil and gas exploration and development.”

Houston’s Plains Exploration & Production Co. is building a facility in Broussard, LA, to support its deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) operations, according to the Lafayette Economic Development Authority (LEDA).