Pending

Inergy LP’s Tres Palacios 20-mile header pipeline extension is now in service, allowing shippers to transport up to 300 MMcf/d of natural gas from the tailgate of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP’s Houston Central gas processing plant in Colorado County, TX, to the Tres Palacios gas storage facility. The 24-inch diameter extension also enables delivery of gas from the Houston Central plant to any of the 10 interstate and intrastate pipelines interconnected with the Tres Palacios header system. “Beyond providing Eagle Ford Shale producers with significant new market options, we believe our new Houston Central interconnection will increase liquidity at the Tres Palacios hub point for marketers to access supply,” said Bruce Page, Tres Palacios vice president for commercial operations and business development. The Houston Central plant provides 700 MMcf/d of processing capacity and 22,000 b/d of fractionation capacity and is being expanded to process an additional 400-800 MMcf/d of rich gas from the Eagle Ford Shale.

NuStar Energy LP’s planned acquisition of natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline and fractionation assets could be in jeopardy as seller TexStar Midstream Services LP told the company in mid-February that it was terminating the sale. NuStar disclosed during a midstream conference presentation in early March that it was evaluating its legal options in the matter. “If NuStar does not complete this acquisition, we do not expect a material adverse impact on our results of operations,” the company said in a presentation to a Morgan Stanley midstream conference. Last November, NuStar said it was buying the Eagle Ford Shale NGL assets, as well as Eagle Ford crude oil pipeline, gathering and storage assets (see Shale Daily, Nov. 9, 2012). The crude oil asset transaction, worth about $325 million, has closed. The pending NGL asset transaction is worth about $100 million.

Enbridge Inc. has committed up to $600 million to expand Enbridge Gas Distribution’s (EGD) system in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) during 2014 and 2015, pending approval of the Ontario Energy Board. “Over the last 20 years, Enbridge Gas Distribution has almost doubled its total number of customers across Ontario from 1.1 million in 1992 to 2 million in 2012,” said President Guy Jarvis. “We’re well positioned to benefit from continued strong population growth in the GTA…” The proposed project would consist of two segments of pipeline and related facilities to upgrade the distribution system that delivers gas to Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham.

Gulf Coast petrochemicals maker TPC Group Inc. on Monday agreed to be taken private by First Reserve Corp. and SK Capital Partners in a cash-and-debt transaction valued at $850 million.

Civility reigned as the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) held a public hearing in Harrisburg, PA, on Thursday to accept comments on 26 pending water withdrawal permits, most of which were submitted by operators in the Marcellus Shale.

With at least two cities having passed ordinances banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) until local rules for it can be established, state legislation has been proposed (SB 88) to reiterate that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) has jurisdiction to oversee the practice by oil/gas exploration and production (E&P) companies.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has introduced a measure of uncertainty into some ownership claims for the resource rights to Marcellus Shale gas, ordering a lower court to consider whether the owner of the shale also owns the shale gas in the same manner that state law declares that coalbed methane belongs to the owner of the coal.

A federal judge in Wyoming Thursday ordered the U.S. Interior Department to decide on 47 long-pending oil/gas leases. U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal gave the federal agency 30 days to act.

New Jersey isn’t even a player in the shale game, but lawmakers there have decided to leave the stadium altogether.