Opportunities

Copano Energy LLC and Magellan Midstream Partners LP have formed of a joint venture (JV) to deliver Eagle Ford Shale condensate to Corpus Christi, TX. The JV’s project will make use of new and existing pipeline infrastructure.

Although emphasizing its utility assets more in recent years, Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. has found new life in its oil/gas exploration and production (E&P) unit with the advent of the Mancos shale play in the Piceance and San Juan basins, CEO Dave Emery recently told an energy financial audience in Orlando, FL.

Less than three months ago, Norse Energy Corp. ASA was the first company in line seeking permission to drill unconventional gas wells in New York’s portion of the Marcellus and Utica shales.

As the federal fiscal year comes to a close Friday, oil and gas leasing activity in the Rockies states declined markedly, according to the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance (WEA), a trade association for more than 400 exploration and production (E&P) companies. With the exception of North Dakota, all Rockies states leasing activity has declined since 2008, WEA said.

PDC Mountaineer (PDCM), a joint venture of Petroleum Development Corp. and Lime Rock Partners V LP, will pay $152.5 million to National Grid plc for Seneca-Upshur LLC, including the rights to an estimated 90,000 net acres in the Marcellus Shale in north central West Virginia, the company said Monday. Closing is scheduled for Monday (Oct. 3), with an effective date of July 1, 2011.

Wisconsin Energy (WE) is eyeing natural gas distribution infrastructure upgrades as one of several capital investment opportunities in the next two to four years, CEO Gale Klappa told financial analysts Thursday in reporting 2Q2011 earnings of $98 million (41 cents/share), compared with $88 million (37 cent/share) in 2Q2010. Current efforts nationally to update gas pipeline rules and regulations are expected to create the need for more investment in WE’s gas pipeline system, and the company expects to also have the opportunity to buy some existing gas-fired cogeneration facilities that the state of Wisconsin owns and operates. “We still have to deal with aging gas and electric infrastructure,” said Klappa. “I am very confident we will be seeing additional capital spending in the 2013-14 time frame related to additional regulation on gas distribution and pipeline safety. Those issues are being debated right now by FERC [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] and the Congress.”

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has taken steps to lease the rights to drill for natural gas in the 43,000 acres of waterways that run through the Marcellus Shale region and to grant licenses for access to water.

In an effort to capitalize on emerging feedstock opportunities and growing North American demand, NOVA Chemicals Corp. is planning to build new polyethylene lines and expand ethylene production at two facilities, the Canadian chemical giant said Tuesday.

July futures retreated Wednesday as traders booked gains and viewed current price levels as selling opportunities. Traders, however, see market psychology as having changed to one of buying on weakness. At the close July dropped 3.7 cents to $4.629 and August shed 3.3 cents to $4.667. July crude oil tumbled $2.41 to $100.29/bbl.