Placed

Southern California Gas declared a new high-linepack OFO for Wednesday, setting a 10% tolerance for positive daily imbalances.

Royal Dutch Shell said Monday it is planning to build a “world-scale” ethylene cracker with integrated derivative units in the Marcellus Shale in Appalachia. The cracker would process ethane from Marcellus natural gas to produce ethylene, one of the primary building blocks for petrochemicals.

Florida Gas Transmission’s (FGT) Phase VIII Expansion was placed in service Friday as scheduled, according to Houston-based Southern Union Co. The announcement came one week after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave FGT the green light to place into service the remaining facilities associated with the $2.48 expansion to serve gas-fired power generators and utilities in Florida (see Daily GPI, March 28). The project, which FERC approved in November 2009, adds more than 483 miles of pipeline loops, laterals and mainline and installs 213,600 hp of compression at eight existing stations and one new station (see Daily GPI, Nov. 20, 2009). The project also called for FGT to acquire the existing 22.7-mile Martin Lateral from Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL), which will serve power plants in Manatee, Martin, Miami-Dade and Suwannee counties, FL. The Phase VIII Expansion is intended to create 820,000 MMBtu/d of capacity on FGT’s system from Alabama to Florida. The expansion’s Phase I facilities, which involved the construction and operation of facilities to serve FPL’s Manatee Power Plant, went into service in mid-2010. FGT proposes to transport gas to five other shippers: Florida Power Corp./Progress Energy Florida Inc.; Seminole Electric Cooperative Inc.; Tampa Electric Co.; the Orlando Utilities Commission; and the City of Tallahassee.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. said Monday it plans to sell all of its Fayetteville Shale assets, as well as its equity investments in Frac Tech Holdings LLC and privately held Chaparral Energy Inc. Pre-tax proceeds could exceed $5 billion, the Oklahoma City-based company said.

Newfield Exploration Co. said it will spend about $1.7 billion this year on exploration and production activity, with two-thirds directed to oil plays and the rest focused on liquids-rich natural gas. The amount is equivalent to the company’s estimate of 2011 cash flow from operations.

In a pair of decisions likely to hinder natural gas development in portions of Pennsylvania, Gov. Ed Rendell placed a moratorium on drilling on state forest land and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced a new policy requiring well operators working on state park and forest land to identify all areas of their tracts that will be disturbed by development activities.

Just two days after Gov. Ed Rendell placed a moratorium on drilling on state forest land, Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced a new policy requiring well operators working on state park and forest land to identify all areas of their tracts that will be disturbed by development activities.

Just two days after Gov. Ed Rendell placed a moratorium on drilling on state forest land, Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced a new policy requiring well operators working on state park and forest land to identify all areas of their tracts that will be disturbed by development activities.

In anticipation of valve section 313-1 to 314-1 being placed back in service Friday afternoon, Tennessee said it was lifting the OFO Action Alert in downstream market Zones 5 and 6 that morning. Due to the Bear Creek storage field test and linepack conditions, the Action Alert OFO will remain in effect in zones 0, L, 1, 2, 3 and 4 for all Balancing Parties until further notice, Tennessee said.