NYMEX

U.S. industrial demand growth for natural gas accelerated faster in 2013 than expected, analysts with Barclays Capital said Tuesday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a final greenhouse gas (GHG) prevention of significant deterioration construction permit to FGE Power for the FGE Texas project near Westbrook, TX, allowing the company to build the 1,620 MW natural-gas fired combined-cycle power plant between Midland and Abilene. In 2010 EPA finalized national GHG regulations, which require that air permits be obtained for projects that would substantially increase GHG emissions. Texas is working to replace the federal implementation plan with its own state program, which would eliminate the need for businesses to seek air permits from EPA. The FGE permit is the 36th such permit EPA has issued in Texas. The agency has proposed an additional five permits and has 19 more in development.

Numerous instances of seismic activity in the vicinity of oil/gas drilling waste injection wells (see Shale Daily,April 17;April 8;March 19) have prompted state regulatory agencies, geologic surveys, the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission (OGCC) and the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) to form a group to study the matter. There are nearly 151,000 Class II underground injection control wells across the country used by the oil and natural gas industry to dispose of produced water or enhance resource recovery, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. Participants in the Induced Seismicity by Injection Work Group will share research and practical experience to equip states with tools to evaluate the potential connection between tremors and injection wells and prepare for dealing with them when they happen. The effort is part of a OGCC-GWPC initiative calledStates First.

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP has requested an exemption from the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code that, if granted by the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC), would give it the status of a public utility corporation.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved millions of dollars more for natural gas vehicle (NGV) transportation development and separately is starting the review process on a proposed 1,936 MW natural gas-fired, air-cooled generation plant on the site of an existing 2,000 MW gas-fired, water-cooled AES Corp. plant in Long Beach, CA.

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP and Williams are no longer funding their Marcellus-to-Gulf Coast natural gas liquids (NGL) joint venture pipeline project, Bluegrass, as customer commitments have yet to materialize.

Preliminary plans to restart partial service at the Opal, WY, natural gas processing facility are underway by Williams Partners LP.

Oil production on North Dakota’s Fort Berthold Indian Reservation has become a significant part of the nation’s second largest oil-producing state, and tribal leaders are touting the reservation’s output as among the top 10 oil producing states in the nation.

More North American land drillers have resumed buying equipment for drilling and fracturing (fracking), in part to secure the state-of-the-art technology and in part because unconventional prospects are chewing up drillbits and pressure pumpers, National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) CEO Clay Williams said Monday.