Pipeline

Spectra Energy Transmission’s Texas Eastern Transmission announced an expansion to serve industrial markets in South Louisiana by Spring 2015 with shale gas supplies from multiple basins. An open season runs through Sept. 27.

Shell Offshore Inc. has awarded Paris-based Technip the contract to install a subsea natural gas pipeline structure in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) in the Stones field in the Walker Ridge blocks that are part of the prospective Lower Tertiary Trend.

PG&E Corp. CEO Anthony Earley in a Wall Street interview Wednesday held out the possibility of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the company’s giant San Francisco-based combination utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), if a proposed $2.25 billion penalty by state regulatory safety staff is upheld by the five-member California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Magellan Midstream Partners LPhas acquired a crude oil pipeline in the Houston area, historically known as the West Columbia line, fromShell Pipeline Co. LP. The 16-inch diameter pipeline, which originates at Genoa Junction is about 15 miles long, terminating at Magellan’s terminal in east Houston. Magellan said the pipeline would provide an additional route for crude oil, particularly from the Eagle Ford Shale, to reach its Houston terminal for storage or subsequent delivery into Shell’s reversed Houma, LA-to-Houston (Ho-Ho) system (seeShale Daily,April 15). The pipeline has a capacity of 150,000 b/d and is bi-directional. Magellan’s Houston area distribution system has connections at Genoa and Speed Junctions and the company’s Galena Park and East Houston terminals.

UGI Corp.’s Pennsylvania-based natural gas utility has agreed to pay a $1 million fine to settle allegations that it failed to adequately maintain and repair a 50-year-old high-pressure gas main in Wilkes Barre.

Meritage Midstream Services II LLC has bought Thunder Creek Gas Services LLC and its more than 500 miles of gathering pipelines in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, the company said Tuesday.

ConocoPhillipshas completed an estimated $600 million sale of subsidiaryTrinidad and Tobago Holdings LLCtoNational Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd.The subsidiary holds a 39% stake in Phoenix Park Gas Processors Ltd., which operates a natural gas midstream facility at Point Lisas, Trinidad. The Houston operator expects to recognize an after-tax gain of about $290 million. Including the latest transaction, ConocoPhillips said it has received around $14.1 billion by selling nonstrategic assets as part of its 2012-13 disposition program, which originally was to pare about $8.5 billion (seeDaily GPI,May 17). Between January and June, ConocoPhillips received $3.8 billion in proceeds from completed sales, with the remainder expected by the end of the year.

Mexico’s federal government-dominated energy sector continues to be the focus of reform talk by the country’s presidential administration, with disclosures by the new CEO at Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) that he will form a new company within the state-operated oil and natural gas giant specifically to go after shale and deep water Gulf of Mexico (GOM) supplies outside of Mexico.

FERC Wednesday approved Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s (Transco) request to place into service the third and final pipeline loop of its major Northeast Supply Link project, and to begin partial service for project shippers to transport Marcellus Shale gas to growing markets in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.