Received

Apache Corp., which now claims to be the second biggest North American onshore operator, reported a 45% increase in total liquids output year/year in the United States and Canada, driven by a revamped drilling program in the legacy Permian and Anadarko basins.

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP has received enough binding commitments to enable its Mariner South Pipeline project to proceed. Mariner South will transport export-grade propane and butane from Lone Star NGL LLC’s storage and fractionation complex in Mont Belvieu, TX, to Sunoco Logistics’ terminal in Nederland, TX. A binding open season continues to solicit additional business (see Shale Daily, March 22). In addition to propane and butane, the pipeline will be available for other natural gas liquids and petroleum products depending on shipper interest, Sunoco Logistics said. It is expected to have initial capacity of 200,000 b/d with the potential for expansion. Operation is expected during the first quarter of 2015.

A compilation of suggestions the Senate Finance Committee has received for reforming taxes on the energy sector can be boiled down to three basic ideas: modify the tax code, replace it, or eliminate it outright.

A news media tour was held Saturday at the Mayflower, AR, oil spill area under the joint command of local, state and federal officials, as well as ExxonMobil representatives. The event was held to provide an update of the spill, which occurred March 29 when a portion of the ExxonMobil Pegasus Pipeline ruptured. Since then, the portion of the 850-mile oil pipeline that failed has been removed for analysis at an independent laboratory and a new section of pipeline installed, all under state and federal oversight. In ExxonMobil’s most recent daily report the company indicated that cleanup was coming to an end and remediation of the area should begin soon. Monitoring by the company and various agencies has indicated that there has been no contamination of water or air from the spilling of what is estimated to be 5,000 bbl of oil. Besides U.S. Environmental Protection Agency representatives, there have been representatives from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office and local government on the scene since the cleanup began. Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel launched an investigation several days after the incident (see Shale Daily, April 3).

Midstates Petroleum Co. Inc. is buying producing properties, as well as developed and undeveloped acreage, in the Anadarko Basin in Texas and Oklahoma for $620 million in cash from Panther Energy LLC and its partners Red Willow Mid-Continent LLC and Linn Energy Holdings LLC.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received bonus oil and natural gas bids totaling $4.068 million for 26 parcels in Utah that cover 37,414 acres in the latest quarterly lease sale, officials reported Tuesday.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the state Oil and Gas Commission does not have jurisdiction to hear an appeal of oil or gas well permits issued by the chief of the Division of Mineral Resources, a branch of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).

The Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA), which runs Pittsburgh International Airport and Allegheny County Airport, has accepted the lower of two bids it received to drill Marcellus Shale natural gas wells on airport property.

After a five-year slide that lopped 75% off prices received by Alberta producers, Canadians are braced to bump into a floor under the buyers’ market for natural gas.