Pipes

KeySpan Energy Canada last week acquired all of Westcoast Capital Corp.’s interests in the Wilson Creek Express Pipeline and the Crystal Pipeline, which KeySpan said will complement its existing natural gas gathering and processing infrastructure. The pipelines gather sour gas from areas to the west and north of the KeySpan-operated Rimbey Gas Plant in Alberta.

As natural gas prices in the Rocky Mountain region over the last few months have fallen much further than other areas of the country due primarily to transportation constraints, the question becomes, why is the region currently experiencing a frenzy of exploration and production activity, when pricing signals point toward restraint? The answer, according to Raymond James & Associates analyst Wayne Andrews, is that new pipeline infrastructure is on its way to the region, and in a big hurry.

Sempra Energy and California regulators were put on the hotseat during a Senate hearing last week for their continued opposition to the new interstate pipeline and expansion projects that have been proposed for the natural gas-hungry California market.

BP and Shell, owners of Destin Pipeline and other large deepwater Gulf of Mexico pipes, announced plans to build a $150-million ultra-deepwater line to gather gas from fields that are 150 miles offshore in the Gulf. The 100-mile Okeanos gas pipeline will have a capacity of at least 1 Bcf/d and will be the first Gulf of Mexico gas pipeline built to operate in water depths exceeding 6,000 feet, making it the deepest gas gathering system in the Gulf.

BP and Shell, owners of Destin Pipeline and other large deepwater Gulf of Mexico pipes, announced plans to build a $150-million ultra-deepwater line to gather gas from fields that are 150 miles offshore in the Gulf. The 100-mile Okeanos gas pipeline will have a capacity of at least 1 Bcf/d and will be the first Gulf of Mexico gas pipeline built to operate in water depths exceeding 6,000 feet, making it the deepest gas gathering system in the Gulf.

Sempra Energy and California regulators were put on the hotseat during a Senate hearing yesterday for their continued opposition to the new interstate pipeline and expansion projects that have been proposed for the natural gas-hungry California market.

Planning, developing and building natural gas pipelines over the last decade has become a difficult endeavor, filled with the risk of numerous regulatory hurdles and barriers to entry, according to a panel of transmission experts last week at GasMart/Power 2001 in Tampa, FL.

Planning, developing and building natural gas pipelines over the last decade has become a difficult endeavor filled with the risk of numerous regulatory hurdles and barriers to entry, according to a panel of transmission experts last week at GasMart/Power 2001 in Tampa, FL.

While Canadian natural-gas producers scramble to increasesupplies, federal and provincial regulators are embarking onefforts to clear long-standing hurdles from the industry’s path. Arecord 600 drilling rigs – 96% of the nation’s 627-unit fleet -were at work as of mid-January. Although oil hunts are reviving,industry analysts estimated two-thirds or more of the activity isdirected at gas.