natural gas prices

Marking the first time natural gas will have flowed westbound on the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX), the pipeline’s Seneca Lateral was expected to begin initial service Wednesday with 0.25 Bcf/d of capacity, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which cited a customer notice posted on the pipeline’s website.

Both of President Obama’s nominees to FERC were voted out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in an often contentious meeting Wednesday, but a White House agreement that some members said would allow current Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur to remain at the helm until next year has not been finalized, according to ranking member Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

Royal Dutch Shell plc said Wednesday its Houston-based midstream subsidiary plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange in the second half of the year.

One month after Texas lawmakers heard an appeal from academic researchers for injection well data they said would help them determine the cause of small earthquakes in Barnett Shale country, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) delivered the first data sets via its public website.

A unit of Ares Management LP is buying South Texas-focused BlackBrush Oil & Gas LP from EIG Management Co. LLC and Tailwater Capital LLC.

Crude oil by rail transportation continues on its robust path in North Dakota, tied closely to the spread between Brent and WTI prices, but natural gas-by-rail shipment is still just a concept being explored by some of the U.S. railroads, according to Justin Kringstad, director at the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, which keeps track of oil/natural gas transportation.

A trio of Senators from both sides of the aisle are co-sponsoring a bill that would authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, but even they don’t think it will get through the current congressional logjam.

Lawmakers in the New York State Assembly have passed a bill calling for a three-year moratorium high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) and horizontal oil and gas drilling, but time is running out for the bill to also win passage in the state Senate.

American Energy Partners LP and private equity manager The Energy & Minerals Group have formed American Energy-Midstream LLC to focus on investing in and developing oil and gas infrastructure in basins across the country. The new company said it will focus on building a portfolio of gathering and processing systems and long-haul pipelines aimed at serving American Energy affiliates in the Appalachian Basin, the Permian Basin and the Midcontinent. The move comes after months of American Energy acreage acquisitions since it was founded by Aubrey McClendon in April 2013, including a buying spree earlier this month in which it spent $4.25 billion to expand its Utica Shale footprint and enter both the Permian Basin and southern Marcellus Shale in West Virginia (see Shale Daily,June 9). The deal also marks the latest in a series of investments, mergers and initial public offerings in the midstream sector (see Daily GPI, June 16;Feb. 14).