Operate

Seal Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. has signed a contract with a major Indiana-based milk producer to build and operate a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station for 42 delivery trucks serving portions of Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky. Fair Oaks Dairy’s unit, Renewable Dairy Fuels, worked out the deal with Clean Energy to establish and run the facility for dispensing CNG for milk-hauling trucks the dairy plans to use; the facility will also have public access. The CNG-powered trucks are scheduled to replace diesel-powered models now being used. The facility, which is scheduled to open in northern Indiana this fall, will have public access; a second facility is planned in southern Indiana. Renewable Dairy Fuels has indicated that it plans to produce biomethane from dairy cattle waste and pipe the biogas directly to the Fair Oaks station for onsite conversion to CNG vehicle fuel by Clean Energy.

Two more infrastructure projects to target growing crude oil production from the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas have been announced.

A suburban Pittsburgh regional park authority in Allegheny County, PA, voted Thursday to sign a five-year, non surface lease with a Pittsburgh land brokerage firm that could lead to Marcellus drilling under the one park the authority runs. The agreement still needs to be approved by four of the five communities that the authority represents.

With congressional budget talks at an apparent standstill and a government shutdown looming, FERC and other federal agencies are preparing to operate in an essential operations-only scenario.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Office of Oil and Gas (OOG) has ordered Antero Resources Appalachian Corp. and Bronco Drilling Corp. to cease operations at an Antero well pad in Harrison County, WV, following a March 21 incident in which drill cuttings were washed into a nearby stream, OOG said.

The rich gas corridor of the Marcellus Shale is attracting producers even at low natural gas prices, but while most natural gas liquids (NGL) command a premium in the Northeast, the lack of ethane markets in the region is a challenge, according to several industry players.

The industry has just “scratched the surface” of the unconventional gas potential of Appalachia, according to the head of one of the first companies to operate in the play, but producers need to partner if they hope to realize its full potential.

The industry has just “scratched the surface” of the unconventional gas potential of Appalachia, according to the head of one of the first companies to operate in the play, but producers need to partner if they hope to realize its full potential.

Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) Thursday approved an application from TransCanada unit NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) to construct and operate its C$307 million Horn River Project, an extension of NGTL’s Alberta System to transport sweet natural gas from the Horn River area in British Columbia (BC) to a tie-in point on the existing Northwest Mainline of the Alberta System.