natural gas

Pennsylvania Attorney General (AG) Kathleen Kane confirmed during a budget hearing with state lawmakers on Tuesday that her office is conducting a far-reaching investigation into royalty deductions made by shale drillers, saying there would soon be a “resolution.”

Magellan Midstream Partners and Plains All American Pipeline LP announced Wednesday that a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has exercised its option to purchase a 20% equity interest in Saddlehorn Pipeline Co., a company with designs to build a pipeline that would tap crude oil production from the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin.

ConocoPhillips said it plans to extend cuts to its capital expenditures (capex) budget through 2017, citing low oil prices, but expects production volumes to continue to increase. Separately, the largest independent operator in the United States said it plans to cut about 7% of its workforce in Canada, also as a result of low commodity prices.

The Lower Tertiary Trend of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) drew the most prospectors in the Department of Interior’s offshore lease auction on Wednesday with one block receiving a $52 million-plus bid.

Natural gas for delivery Thursday moved little in Wednesday’s trading as traders were willing to discount forecasts of a cold, wet snow-mix that is expected to hit the Northeast and keep temperatures well below seasonal norms.

WGL Holdings Inc.’s WGL Midstream has acquired a 7% stake in Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, a joint venture of units of EQT Corp. and NextEra Energy Inc. (see Shale Daily,Oct. 29, 2014). A unit of Vega Energy Partners Ltd., Vega Midstream MVP LLC, has acquired a 3% interest in Mountain Valley. NextEra Energy will hold a 35% interest; and as previously announced, EQT Midstream Partners LP is expected to assume EQT’s 55% majority interest and operate the proposed pipeline if it is constructed. WGL Midstream is to be a shipper on Mountain Valley and has also committed to buying a “significant amount of natural gas” at Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co.’s (Transco) Zone 5 compressor station 165 in Pittsylvania County, VA. “WGL has a major presence in this market and currently moves significant volume on Transco’s mainline; therefore, securing them as a joint venture partner validates the market’s need for additional energy supply sources at Station 165…” said EQT Midstream COO Randy Crawford.

National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. and Empire Pipeline Inc. have filed for their Northern Access 2016 Project at FERC, which would move Marcellus Shale natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York on behalf of foundation shipper Seneca Resources Corp.

Natural gas-heavy Quicksilver Resources Inc. is seeking bankruptcy protection after warning last month that financial problems were mounting.

The Department of Interior (DOI) is weeks away from proposing tougher rules on blowout preventers (BOP), and will take public comments on a proposal by its Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to be able to adjust royalty rates for oil and gas leases on public lands, according to Secretary Sally Jewell.