Open

In FERC’s first open meeting since it adopted a rule to rein in show-stopping protests — and her last meeting as chairman — Cheryl LaFleur on Thursday was forced to clear the room before the meeting even began when demonstrators began shouting their opposition to an issue not on the agenda.

Nine years after the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) inked an agreement with CME Group’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange to offer side-by-side trading of its products on the open outcry floor and on CME’s Globex electronic exchange, CME Group, which ended up acquiring Nymex in 2008, said late Tuesday it will close most of its floor futures trading pits — including natural gas — in Chicago and New York by July 2.

An Ohio couple is opposing a request by Spectra Energy Corp. unit Texas Eastern Transmission LP (Tetco) to seize some property for the Ohio Pipeline Energy Network (OPEN) project.

Coming off a successful nonbinding open season, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP is holding a binding open season for its Northern Supply Access expansion of Texas Gas Transmission, a project that would provide for receipts of Marcellus and Utica shale gas seeking markets in the Southeast and Gulf Coast.

A unit of Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources on Thursday launched an open season for a proposed $650 million natural gas transmission pipeline connecting plentiful Bakken Shale supplies to markets in the Great Lakes. Planning for the 375-mile pipeline is under way at MDU’s WBI Energy Inc.

An open season announced last week by TransCanada Corp. on the eastern leg of its Mainline has prompted two other pipelines to jump on board with complementary eastbound Marcellus Shale-oriented projects of their own.

NuStar Crude Oil Pipeline LP is holding a binding open season through Aug. 30 for capacity to transport Eagle Ford Shale crude oil from several terminal locations on its South Texas Crude Oil Pipeline System in Frio, McMullen, and La Salle counties, TX, to its Corpus Christi, TX, North Beach facility. The proposed South Texas System Project would include pipeline capacity upgrades to the segments of the South Texas System between NuStar’s Gardendale Terminal in La Salle County and NuStar’s Corpus Christi Terminal in Nueces County, TX, and would be constructed in two phases. The first phase would add incremental capacity to the South Texas System of 35,000 b/d; the second phase would add incremental capacity to the South Texas System of 65,000 b/d. For information, contact Mark Meador or Rick Webb at (210) 918-2000.

Nearly two months after securing Mitsubishi Corp. as its foundation shipper, Tennessee Gas Pipeline is holding an open season through Aug. 9 for its Southwest Louisiana Supply Project, which is designed to provide transportation from various supply basins in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Louisiana to Cameron Interstate Pipeline, which connects directly to the proposed Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, LA.

Sunoco Logistics Partners’ Sunoco Pipeline is holding a binding open season for its Granite Wash Extension pipeline to provide crude oil takeaway capacity for growing production from the Granite Wash Shale in the northeastern Texas Panhandle and portions of western Oklahoma. The pipeline would originate in Wheeler County, TX, and terminate in Ringgold, TX, where it would interconnect with an existing Sunoco Logistics pipeline with the ability to provide transportation to Corsicana, TX. From Corsicana, access to multiple Sunoco Logistics and third-party pipelines would provide producers the ability to reach various markets and refineries on the Gulf Coast and in the Midcontinent. The partnership would lay 200 miles of new pipeline and construct pump stations, tankage and truck unloading facilities. The Granite Wash Extension is anticipated to have an initial capacity of 70,000 b/d to Ringgold and is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2014.