Option

Western Gas Partners LP has exercised an option to acquire a 25% interest in a joint venture with Enterprise Products Partners LP to own two fractionation trains (Trains 7 and 8) being constructed in Mont Belvieu, TX. The trains, scheduled to begin service later this year, would be operated by Enterprise. Western, formed by Anadarko Petroleum Corp., also plans to begin constructing a second cryogenic processing train at its Lancaster plant in the Denver-Julesburg Basin this year. Lancaster II is expected to have a capacity of 300 MMcf/d with throughput of 200 MMcf/d guaranteed by an Anadarko subsidiary. The partnership anticipates the project will cost $165 million, with 50% spent in 2013 and the remainder spent by early 2015. The new train is expected to begin operating in early 2015.

Robert Douglas Lawler, 46, one of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s top exploration and production (E&P) executives, on Monday was named the new CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp.

Because of production growth in U.S. oilfields, Calgary’s Suncor Energy has thrown in the towel on the centerpiece of its long-planned, $20 billion oilsands expansion, the Voyageur Upgrader.

Portland General Electric Co. (PGE) said Thursday that a utility owned and operated option has won the bidding to develop a 220 MW natural gas-fired peaking generation facility to be located adjacent to baseload gas-fired electric generation plants operated by PGE northwest of the Portland metropolitan area.

North Dakota continues to set new records for oil and natural gas production, but it also continues to see more flared gas, according to officials.

U.S. shale plays are on the right track, regulation-wise, even regarding hydraulic fracturing (fracking), according to oil and natural gas professionals surveyed recently by Deloitte LLP.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. and the City of Salem, OH, have agreed to sign a three-year nondevelopmental lease, with an option for an additional three years, for 381 combined acres of land owned by the city. Chesapeake agreed to pay a signing bonus of $3,500/acre, plus 20% royalties on gross revenue on any production.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Tuesday signed an executive order creating a statewide natural gas vehicle (NGV) task force to explore the option of creating a state fleet of natural gas vehicles (NGV). Part of the task force’s work will be to identify what is needed to create a compressed natural gas (CNG) infrastructure.

One day after purchasing natural gas processing facilities and associated infrastructure in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, MarkWest Energy Partners LP said it plans to remain independent and will allocate more toward capital expenditures (capex) in 2012.