Provides

Decades of oil and gas drilling, and the jobs and benefits it provides, are engrained in Texas culture, and it’s a way of life that Pennsylvanians now are attempting to assimilate, but residents of both states continue to reconcile the advent of shale gas drilling, according to a survey of 1,600 adults.

Decades of oil and gas drilling, and the jobs and benefits it provides, are engrained in Texas culture, and it’s a way of life that Pennsylvanians now are attempting to assimilate, but residents of both states continue to reconcile the advent of shale gas drilling, according to a survey of 1,600 adults.

With its acquisition of Copano Energy LLC, announced Wednesday, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) will expand its footprint in Texas shale plays, the Eagle Ford in particular, as it adds gas gathering, processing, treating and natural gas liquids fractionation assets.

Xcel Energy Inc., which provides power generation to Colorado customers, plans to build a 21-mile transmission line (230-kV) in the Piceance Basin to serve anticipated natural gas-fired generation to enhance reliability on the Western Slope. A 1,100 MW gas-fired generator also is planned near Mesquite, NV, on 250 acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. A unit of EWP Renewables Corp. has filed an application with Nevada regulators to construct the plant, which would come online in two 550 MW phases in 2016 and 2017.

The University at Buffalo (UB) will close its Shale Resources and Society Institute (SRSI), which during its seven-month life issued a hydraulic fracturing (fracking) study that was the target of criticism from several areas, including some UB staff, university President Satish Tripathi said Monday.

Tapping all of the potential in U.S. shale natural gas isn’t a given; it requires changes to, and investment in, basic energy infrastructure, including an expansion of the U.S. pipeline and storage network, according to KKR & Co. LP.

With an Alberta-grown veteran of international industry at the helm, a newcomer on Wednesday launched an Atlantic coast entry into the lineup of Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects.

ExxonMobil Corp. has offered US$3.14 billion in a cash and debt deal to buy Celtic Exploration Ltd., a Calgary producer with a rich array of unconventional acreage spread across the Montney and Duvernay shales, as well as leaseholds in other formations in Alberta (AB) and British Columbia (BC). The offer that was announced on Wednesday has a cash value of about $2.6 billion, excluding debt.

Honeywell’s UOP business is buying a 70% stake in Thomas Russell Co., a privately held provider of technology and equipment for natural gas processing and treating. UOP provides process technology, materials and equipment to petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. It will now be able to offer a range of technologies and products that allow shale and conventional natural gas producers to remove contaminants from natural gas and recover high-value natural gas liquids (NGL). Founded in 2002, Tulsa, OK-based Thomas Russell specializes in the design, engineering, fabrication and start-up of skid-mounted modular packaged plants systems for the recovery and upgrading of NGLs. UOP is paying $525 million in cash for the interest and has a right to acquire the remaining 30% stake. Closing, subject to conditions, is expected during the fourth quarter.