Plains

The co-founder of a Bakken Shale midstream operator has been charged with allegedly operating a stock scheme that allowed him to collect millions in bonus payments.

Plains All American Pipeline LP said its earnings for 4Q2015 were reduced by producers not meeting their minimum volume commitments (MVC), unseasonably warm weather and flooding in West Texas and the Midcontinent.

Plains All American Pipeline LP plans to build a pipeline to transport crude oil produced in the Permian Basin, Bakken Shale and the Midcontinent from its terminal in Oklahoma to a Valero Energy Corp. refinery in Memphis, TN.

A unit of San Antonio-based refiner/transporter Tesoro Corp. started an open season Tuesday for its proposed crude oil processing terminal and pipeline expansion in the Bakken Shale play in North Dakota. The first of the expansions is to be operable by July 1.

Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) is proposing to acquire PAA Natural Gas Storage (PNG), which owns and operates three natural gas storage facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Michigan, in a unit-for-unit exchange valued at approximately $1.39 billion, the companies said Tuesday. PAA already holds a general partner interest and majority equity ownership position in PNG.

Plains All American Pipeline LP is constructing a 95-mile extension of its Oklahoma crude oil pipeline to service increasing production from the Granite Wash, Hogshooter and Cleveland Sands producing areas in western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. The new Western Oklahoma pipeline will provide up to 75,000 b/d of takeaway capacity from Reydon, OK, in Roger Mills County to PAA’s Orion station in Major County, OK. At the Orion station, crude oil will flow on PAA’s existing pipeline system to the PAA terminal in Cushing, OK. The new Western Oklahoma pipeline is supported by long-term producer commitments and is expected to be in service by the end of the first quarter of 2014, the company said.

Natural gas cash prices on average rose 4 cents in Tuesday’s trading with gains in the Plains, Texas and eastern points leading the march higher. Wild and wacky weather conditions have proved a challenge to cash buyers, who are now devoid of much of their baseload and are at times having to dip into storage and pay penalties. At the close of futures trading, June enjoyed a bump up to $4.025, a gain of 10.0 cents, and July had risen 9.7 cents to $4.068. June crude oil fell 96 cents to $94.21/bbl.

Enterprise Products Partners LP overcame the effect of lower natural gas processing margins in its pipelines and services segment to deliver record gross operating margin during the first quarter, as well as a 16% increase in profits. Oil-related infrastructure put in a strong showing, particularly in the Eagle Ford Shale

Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA) is constructing the Cactus Pipeline, a 310-mile, 20-inch diameter crude oil pipeline from McCamey to Gardendale, TX. It is expected to enter service during the first quarter of 2015. The partnership said it has a long-term agreement for a majority of the pipeline’s capacity and is talking with other potential shippers. The pipeline is expected to cost $350-375 million and transport both sweet and sour crude oil from the Permian Basin to the PAA/Enterprise Products Partners Eagle Ford Joint Venture (Eagle Ford JV) Pipeline. The Eagle Ford JV Pipeline directly serves the Three Rivers and Corpus Christi markets and can supply the Houston-area market through a connection to the Enterprise South Texas Crude Oil Pipeline. Crude oil delivered on Cactus will have access to rail loading capacity at PAA’s Gardendale station and access to the Eagle Ford JV barge dock facility in the Corpus Christi area. Initial capacity will be about 200,000 b/d.