natural gas

A former Baker Hughes Inc. executive is heading up the launch of a North American oilfield services provider that was created by merging four U.S. and Canadian operators.

An environmental group says Sunoco Logistics Partners LP is trying to circumvent local zoning ordinances in Pennsylvania by applying for an exemption with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) for its Mariner East pipeline.

Total U.S. natural gas marketed production will grow by an average rate of 4.0% this year to 73 Bcf/d and 1.3% in 2015 to 73.97 Bcf/d, with onshore production increases in the Lower 48 states more than offsetting declines from the Federal Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and Alaska, according to the Energy Information Administration’s latestShort-Term Energy Outlook.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead on Friday filled two key advisory positions following his policy director Shawn Reese’s departure to become CEO of the Wyoming Business Council. As a replacement for Reese, Mead named Mary Kay Hill to the deputy policy director position. Hill brings experience from being a policy director to previous Wyoming governor Jim Geringer and media director for U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson (R- WY). Mead also named Jerimiah Rieman natural resources policy director. Rieman has been a natural resources policy advisor and before that an administrator for the state workforce development council.

Lordstown, OH’s planning commission on Monday vetoed an electricity wholesale company’s request for a zoning change that would have allowed it to construct an 800 MW natural gas-fired power plant on 57 acres in the village, about 16 miles from Youngstown in northeast Ohio. Clean Energy Future LLC, which has developed similar facilities from Maine to California, first proposed the $800 million plant in April (see Daily GPI,April 17). It said at the time that if a zoning change from “business/residential” to “industrial” was granted, and the project was ultimately approved, it could begin construction late next year. Lordstown officials rejected the zoning change in an area where homes and businesses are currently located and said the company must look for another site in the village.

Natural gas for delivery Wednesday suffered a broad decline across most points Tuesday. Losses were generally from a nickel to a dime, and the overall decline was about 3 cents.

Affiliates of American Energy Partners LP (AELP) are picking up acreage in Texas, Ohio and West Virginia in a trio of deals worth a combined $4.25 billion, marking American Energy’s entry into the Permian Basin and the southern Marcellus Shale, and its continued expansion in the Utica Shale.

A partnership between units of Sasol Ltd. and Ineos Europe AG has reached a final investment decision (FID) to build a high-density polyethlyne (HPDE) plant in the La Porte, TX petrochemical complex southeast of Houston.

The U.S. State Department has corrected several errors to its initial study examining the impact of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, including a more than fourfold increase in the estimated number of deaths and injuries from rail accidents over a 10-year period without the pipeline.