Planned

The opening of the Mariner West I ethane pipeline and new processing plants should provide some relief to current wet gas constraints in the Marcellus and Utica shales, and the plays should be largely de-bottlenecked by the end of next year, according to analysts at Barclays.

Apache Corp., which had planned to sell about $4 billion worth of assets by the end of the year, accomplished that goal and more last week after agreeing to sell Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Outer Continental Shelf operations and properties, and the asset retirement obligations, to a Riverstone Holdings affiliate for $5.25 billion total.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy has signed legislation that would expand the state’s natural gas distribution system at the same time as a planned expansion of Algonquin Gas Transmission will increase supply access to New England.

Her resignation from the Commission does not come as a surprise as she informed President Obama in January that she planned to leave the CFTC before her term ended (see Daily GPI, Jan. 28). Asked where she intended to go after the CFTC, Sommers told NGI, “I don’t know. I have not started looking for my next opportunity yet.”

GreenHunter Resources Inc.’s planned water treatment, recycling and condensate handling logistics terminal in Wheeling, WV, to serve the Marcellus and Utica shale region could provide drillers with free recycled wastewater for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations.

Cheap U.S. natural gas contributed to a decision by European steelmaker Voestalpine AG to site a new plant outside of Corpus Christi, TX.

Cheap U.S. natural gas contributed to a decision by European steelmaker Voestalpine AG to site a new plant outside of Corpus Christi, TX.

In the coming days, Sunoco Logistics Partners LP plans to launch an open season for its planned Eaglebine Express crude pipeline project to convert a portion of the MagTex refined products pipeline to crude service and reverse the flow to carry crude from Hearne, TX, to the company’s terminal in Nederland, TX.

BP plc’s decision to rethink one of its long-planned mega-projects in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is one of a growing list of big industry projects that today are being reconfigured because of cost overruns and changing market conditions.