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FERC on Thursday approved Golden Triangle Storage Inc.’s (GTS) plans to construct and operate two high-deliverability salt dome storage caverns at its storage facility in Jefferson County, TX, and granted the AGL Resources subsidiary’s request to charge market-based rates for the new capacity.

Noting that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has revolutionized U.S. energy production, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper Thursday boasted that his state’s rules for regulating the use of fracking are the “strongest and fairest” in the nation. Hickenlooper made the remarks as part of his state of the state address in Denver.

Inergy LP said Tuesday it plans to spin off a minority interest in a new master limited partnership (MLP) as Inergy Midstream LP, which initially would own and operate the northeastern midstream natural gas storage and transportation business.

Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp.’s Wyoming combination utility proposed Monday to build and operate a $158 million natural gas-fired electric generation peaking facility in the city of Cheyenne. In a filing to the state Public Service Commission (PSC), Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power proposed the development of three 40 MW simple-cycle peaking units. If approved by the PSC, the utility plans to begin construction in 2013 and have the facility operable by 2014. Located within close proximity to existing power lines, the proposed plant would provide added tax benefits and electric reliability for customers, according to the utility. Mark Stege, vice president for operations, called the proposal the “right investment” to serve increasing electric demand in the area and maintain “reliability that customers expect from our company.”

NuStar Logistics has reactivated and plans to operate its 60-mile Pettus South Pipeline to transport Eagle Ford crude oil to Corpus Christi, TX, part of its agreement with Koch Pipeline Co. LP, a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc. The move will add 30,000 b/d of capacity to the Koch system, which totals about 540 miles in South Texas. In May 2010 Koch completed projects to expand its crude oil and gas condensates capacity by 25,000 b/d, then added another 50,000 b/d of crude and condensate capacity through an agreement with Arrowhead Pipeline LP in September 2010.

Chevron Corp. will continue to expand its unconventional natural gas operations in the United States but it first will focus on the Marcellus Shale, Vice Chairman George Kirkland said Friday.

Economic activity in the Marcellus Shale quadrupled between 2008 and this year, according to an industry-backed study released Wednesday.

Laser Northeast Gathering Company LLC broke ground on the New York portion of its proposed gathering system Wednesday and also announced a $60 million expansion of the Marcellus Shale midstream project.

A subsidiary of DTE Energy Co. has signed a long-term agreement with a unit of Southwestern Energy Co. to build and operate a natural gas gathering system to carry output from the producer’s Marcellus Shale operations to Millennium Pipeline Co. in Broome County, NY, and Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. in Susquehanna County, PA.