Pipeline

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (APL) has signed agreements with DCP NGL Services LLC (DCP), a subsidiary of DCP Midstream LLC, to sell its natural gas liquids (NGL) production from each of APL’s processing facilities in Oklahoma and Texas. The agreements are based on Mont Belvieu NGL pricing and each has a term of 15 years, which will become effective at various times upon expiration of APL’s existing NGL sales agreements, the company said. The agreements provide long-term support for APL’s previously announced expansions at its WestTX, WestOK and Velma systems (see Daily GPI, May 16). The arrangements also allow for the sale of additional NGLs from the West Texas plants on an interim basis.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday denied two requests to reconsider its decision to grant public utility status to a Marcellus Shale gathering project currently under construction.

The ongoing expansion of Atlas Pipeline Partners LP’s (APL) Velma system and similar projects on the partnership’s other systems must be completed before it can take on all of the production coming its way, APL said Tuesday.

Xcel Energy said its Colorado utility will complete in October the upgrade of a six-inch diameter natural gas transmission pipeline to a 16-inch diameter line running in the west-central part of the state. The upgrade aims to address growing population and facilitate switching an existing coal-fired power plant to gas in another area of the Xcel utility system. The utility added a third construction crew to overcome delays and keep the project on schedule.

Under fire in lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of the San Bruno pipeline rupture last September, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) fired back at its accusers, saying it was not blaming residents and other third-parties for the natural gas transmission line explosion.

El Paso Corp. and Spectra Energy Corp. said their Marcellus Ethane Pipeline System (MEPS) (see Shale Daily, Oct. 26, 2010) is holding a 30-day binding open season for shippers that desire ethane transportation service from West Virginia and Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale supply areas to destination interconnect points with third-party ethane pipelines or storage facilities in the Gulf Coast area. The MEPS project is being designed to transport up to 90,000 b/d and has an anticipated in-service date of 4Q 2014. The open season will close at 5 p.m. EDT on July 27. For more information visit www.elpaso.com/midstream.

Aging pipeline infrastructure will need to be replaced and/or expanded to support the nation’s transition to greater reliance on natural gas, particularly in electric generation, FERC Commissioner John Norris said last Tuesday.

Aging pipeline infrastructure will need to be replaced and/or upgraded to support the nation’s transition to heavier reliance on natural gas, FERC Commissioner John Norris said Tuesday.

A rupture on Enterprise Products Partners LP’s 20-inch diameter South Texas pipeline system in Wilson County southeast of San Antonio shut down a stretch of roadway Thursday afternoon, but there were no injuries and only one producer was affected, an Enterprise spokesman said. “We don’t know what happened, but shortly before 1 [p.m. Thursday] our control room personnel detected a pressure drop on that line and immediately began shutdown procedures…” spokesman Rick Rainey told NGI. “There was no ignition…but the line did rupture. A couple of county roads were shut down for a brief period. Repairs were expected to be completed by last Saturday morning. Rainey said there was no excavation going on in the area as far as Enterprise officials knew. The cause was under investigation.