natural gas prices

The path of least resistance for Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co’s (TGP) Northeast Energy Direct (NED) project includes adding more existing utility powerline corridor, the Kinder Morgan Inc. pipeline has decided after receiving input from landowners.

Tesoro Logistics LP (TLLP) has completed its $2.5 billion acquisition of Denver-based QEP Resources Inc.’s natural gas gathering and processing business and other midstream units. The deal was originally announced in October (see Shale Daily, Oct. 20).

Kinder Morgan Inc.’s (KMI) Texas intrastate pipelines business has struck a 20-year firm transportation services agreement with SK E&S LNG LLC, a unit of SK E&S Co. Ltd. KMI is to invest more than $150 million to provide more than 320,000 Dth/d of gas transportation services to support SK LNG’s Train III liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity at Quintana Island, TX (see Daily GPI,Sept. 10, 2013). This train is part of Freeport LNG Development’s Freeport LNG export facility, which in total will liquefy up to 13.2 million tonnes per annum once fully operational (see Daily GPI,Nov. 25). KMI will construct and operate about 40 miles of pipeline extending from the Kinder Morgan Tejas mainline to an interconnection with Freeport LNG’s pipeline in Stratton Ridge, TX. KMI will also add compression on its existing Kinder Morgan Texas and Kinder Morgan Tejas pipeline systems to provide these services upon the startup of Train III, which is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2019. The agreement provides for the required expansion of the KMI intrastate system by more than 1 Bcf/d and will provide additional capacity to the Freeport and Chocolate Bayou areas in Texas, the company said.

Mike Tanchuk, who is currently working with Summit Natural Gas of Maine in an advisory role, has been named president of the company and executive vice president of Summit Utilities Inc. effective Jan. 1. Current Summit president Mike Minkos is retiring at the end of 2014. Tanchuk was previously CEO and a member of the board of directors at Ormet Corp., a producer of aluminum and related products and services, was responsible for operation and expansion at Century Aluminum, and was president of Alcoa/Reynolds Metals Co. He received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Bucknell University and completed the Executive Business Program at the University of Washington.

Western states value the economic potential inherent in capturing methane that otherwise would be vented into the atmosphere during oil and natural gas production, the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) said in a resolution passed Saturday during a winter WGA meeting in Las Vegas, NV.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected BP plc’s plea to allow it to block payments for damage claims that could not clearly be traced to the 2010 Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Natural gas forwards markets were generally lower for the first week of December as relatively mild weather blanketed much of the country, and forecasts offered little hope of more sustained cold in the next couple of weeks.

Appalachian pure-play Rice Energy Inc. has outlined terms for the initial public offering (IPO) of a master limited partnership (MLP) for its midstream assets in southwestern Pennsylvania that aims to raise more than $600 million.

An attorney who serves as legal counsel to a state government panel has recommended that five rules proposed by the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission (MEC) on shale development be rejected on the grounds that they are either redundant with current law or require a public hearing.