Northern

A portion of excess funds from a recent Colorado state revenue forecast should be spent to study the impact of oil and gas exploration and development on air quality, according to the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting (OSPB). In an amended spending request to the state’s Joint Budget Committee, the OSPB asked that $492,776 go to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to conduct the survey, and another $567,000 from the state’s capital construction budget be used to purchase equipment for the survey. Gov. John Hickenlooper also recommended $1.3 million in cash fund spending authority for CDPHE to enter into a collaborative partnership with Colorado State University to begin collecting data for a broader study of the impacts of oil and gas operations on air quality in the state’s northern Front Range (see Shale Daily, Jan. 14).

Home heating products retailer Dead River Co. plans to sell and supply compressed natural gas (CNG) to commercial and institutional customers in central, northern and eastern Maine from Xpress Natural Gas’ (XNG) soon-to-be-completed CNG terminal in Washington County, ME, the companies said. The customers to be served typically use at least 75,000 gallons of heating oil annually. Boston-based XNG currently trucks liquefied natural gas to industrial customers. The partnership brings together XNG proprietary technology with Dead River’s more than one hundred years of experience in trucked fuels and energy services.

Nebraska environmental officials on Friday issued a final evaluation report regarding TransCanada Corp.’s alternative route for the norethern portion of its proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. The rerouting avoids environmentally sensitive areas in the Sand Hills region of the state, and carries 57 special conditions that TransCanada has agreed to fulfill.

In two separate but related cases in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, a judge has ruled that energy companies can’t use the state’s de facto moratorium against high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) as an excuse to invoke force majeure to extend expiring oil and natural gas leases.

In two separate but related cases, the U.S. District Court or the Northern District of New York again has ruled that energy operators may not use the state’s de facto moratorium against high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) as an excuse to invoke force majeure to extend expiring oil and natural gas leases.

Kinder Morgan’s El Paso Natural Gas last Wednesday inked a 25-year transportation agreement related to plans to expand gas service to northern Mexico. The company is not divulging who the party or parties are on the other end of the agreement, a Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) spokesperson told NGI. El Paso is owned 50-50 by KMI and its affiliate, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP).

Kinder Morgan’s El Paso Natural Gas on Wednesday inked a 25-year transportation agreement related to plans to expand gas service to northern Mexico. The company is not divulging who the party or parties are on the other end of the agreement, a Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) spokesperson told NGI.

About 4.5 miles of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) natural gas pipeline segments in Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties in northern California may not have undergone integrity assessments prior to Dec. 17, 2007, as required by federal law, PG&E said in a letter sent to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Oct. 19. PG&E said it recently discovered that it does not have documentation to show that the high-risk segments — defined as having a threat caused by corrosion, excavation-induced damage or material defects — were properly assessed for internal corrosion threat. “Accordingly, PG&E is treating these segments as requiring baseline assessments,” PG&E said in the letter. CPUC’s safety staff has alleged that PG&E committed significant violations of pipeline safety rules, which staff claims contributed to a gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion two years ago in San Bruno, CA (see Daily GPI, Sept. 13, 2010). Last week, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell was appointed to serve as mediator in ongoing talks aimed at resolving a series of enforcement cases against PG&E stemming from the San Bruno blast (see Daily GPI, Oct. 17).

Marathon Oil Corp. is selling all of its interest in 98,409 gross acres (96,738 net) in nine tracts in Karnes, Northern Bee and Wilson counties, TX, in the Eagle Ford Shale. However, the play remains a core focus of the company.