natural gas

At the end of what has proven so far to be an unusually harsh winter, FERC will hold a technical conference to evaluate the U.S. electric grid’s performance and review interaction between the natural gas and electricity markets, Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur said Thursday.

Exploration and production companies operating in Pennsylvania produced 3.3 Tcf of unconventional natural gas last year, an impressive increase of 1.3 Tcf over 2012 production, according to data compiled by Pennsylvania State University’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR).

FERC on Thursday approved a request from Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC (SPL) and Sabine Pass LNG to increase the maximum peak day liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and export capacity for Trains 1-4 at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal to 2.76 Bcf/d.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday denied a rehearing request submitted by Gunpowder Riverkeeper and the Woodstock Residents, who had objected to the Commission’s Nov. 21, 2013 order granting Columbia Gas Transmission authority to construct and operate pipeline facilities in Baltimore and Harford counties in Maryland (see Daily GPI, Nov. 25, 2013). The groups “make no showing that they will be irreparably harmed” by the project, Commissioners said in their order. The Line MB Expansion is part of a system-wide, approximately $2 billion, five-year modernization program designed to improve Columbia’s aging infrastructure. The expansion calls for the phased construction of approximately 21.1 miles of 26-inch diameter pipeline from the current terminus of Columbia’s existing Line MB in Baltimore County to the existing Rutledge Compressor Station in Hartford County and associated facilities. The project, which the company estimates will cost about $132 million, is expected to be placed into service by the end of this year.

The Constitution Pipeline, whose 30-inch diameter natural gas pipe would traverse close to 125 miles from Pennsylvania into New York, is being delayed not by federal regulators but by the New York Department of Conservation (DEC), Williams CEO Alan Armstrong said Thursday.

Private equity (PE) investors still believe in Aubrey McClendon after they more than doubled capital investments this week in the Utica Shale-based enterprise.

Significant growth in the Appalachian Basin, combined with higher finding and development costs in Kentucky’s Illinois Basin, dragged down profits at Rex Energy last year, but with production climbing and a backlog of wells set to come online soon, the company expects drastic improvements this year.

The Pennsylvania State Police and Chevron Corp. confirmed late Wednesday that they had located the remains of a worker that had been missing since an explosion and fire broke out on Feb. 11 at a three-well pad owned and operated by Chevron Appalachia LLC in Greene County, PA.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line — Transco — has received binding commitments from nine shippers for 100% of 1.7 million Dth/d of firm transportation capacity for its proposed Atlantic Sunrise expansion project, infrastructure that would connect natural gas supplies in northeastern Pennsylvania with growing demand centers on the Atlantic Seaboard. The project brought in 15-year shipper commitments from producers, local distribution companies and power generators.