Millennium

Three conservation and environmental groups are seeking to stall the construction of Inergy subsidiary Central New York Oil and Gas Co.’s (CNYOG) MARC I Hub project in northeast Pennsylvania until the company corrects “serious flaws” in its invasive species management plan.

Water services company Heckmann Corp. reiterated its emphasis on serving shale gas and oil developers in the United States in announcing the divestment of China Water & Drinks Inc. through the sale of nine of its 25 Chinese legal entities to Pacific Water & Drinks (HK) Group Ltd. (PWD). The deal closed Sept. 30, and Heckmann will no longer have business exposure in China except through its equity holding in PWD. “With our positive view of our current core water business and the growth opportunities in the United States, we are pleased to put the China experience behind us,” said CEO Richard J. Heckmann. “We now have almost 1,100 employees in the U.S., up from fewer than 30 a year ago. We believe that the water business as it relates to shale gas and shale oil production will continue to drive our growth. In addition, the customer reaction to our conversion to LNG [liquefied natural gas] powered vehicles [see Shale Daily, Aug. 23], which we are now putting in service, has been very positive.”

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday denied two requests to reconsider its decision to grant public utility status to a Marcellus Shale gathering project currently under construction.

The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC) should deny an application from Laser Northeast Gathering Co. LLC to be deemed a public utility with the ability to exercise the right of public domain for its proposed gathering and transportation pipeline in Susquehanna County, PA, according to an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) recommendation to the PUC.

Houston-based Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP agreed to pay $236 million to acquire privately held Millennium Midstream Partners LP (MMP), a natural gas gathering and processing business whose operations are based in Texas. MMP, based in The Woodlands, TX, a Houston suburb, is backed by Kayne Anderson Energy Development Co., Tortoise Capital Resources Corp., WFC Holdings Corp. (an affiliate of Wells Fargo Bank NA) and an entity controlled by the partnership’s original founders, all of which would receive Eagle Rock units as partial consideration. The largest of MMP’s gathering systems is in East Texas, with more than 260 miles of gathering pipelines in Polk, Angelina, Nacogdoches, Cherokee, Rusk and Smith counties. MMP’s Central Texas system has more than 235 miles of gathering pipelines in Grimes, Waller, Harris, Washington and Austin counties. Its West Texas system is spread across more than 100 miles of gathering pipes in Crockett County. The East Texas assets are near to and connect with Eagle Rock’s Indian Springs and Camp Ruby assets, the partnership noted. Together the assets in East Texas would encompass 1,114 miles of gathering and processing assets, Eagle Rock stated. Of the purchase price, $181 million is to be paid in cash, and the remainder would be covered by issuance of Eagle Rock common units to the sellers at an implied value of $13.75/unit. The transaction is to close in October pending financial conditions.

Houston-based Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP agreed to pay $236 million to acquire privately held Millennium Midstream Partners LP (MMP), a natural gas gathering and processing business whose operations are based in Texas.

NiSource Inc. Friday announced net operating earnings of $21.5 million (8 cents/share) for 3Q2007, down from $29.6 million (11 cents/share) in 3Q2006 and said it intends to form a master limited partnership (MLP) for certain gas transmission and storage assets.

Subject to bankruptcy court approval and the results of an auction process, TransCanada Pipelines plans to buy Gas Transmission Northwest Corp. (GTN) from National Energy & Gas Transmission (NEGT) for US$1.703 billion, including US$500 million of assumed debt. The deal would extend TransCanada’s massive Canadian pipeline grid through the Pacific Northwest to California and Nevada.

The early May aftermarket is shaping up as typical of itspredecessors in the new millennium: showing remarkable strengthdespite a general lack of fundamental support. Only in the West,where a combination of hot weather and nuclear outages sent powerprices spiking, did sources see anything besides a sharp rise onthe futures screen to account for Monday’s cash upticks.