reliability

A House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Tuesday will hold a hearing on bipartisan legislation aimed at reforming cross-border energy trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Under a program backed by Georgia state regulators, AGL Resources’ Atlanta Gas Light utility said Monday its has signed agreements to open two more in a network of compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations in the state. The latest will be public access stations in Decatur and Oglethorpe, GA.

A second natural gas well with double-digit initial production rates may confirm a gusher in the Niobrara formation, WPX Energy Inc. reported Monday.

Crosstex Energy LP plans to build a natural gas processing complex and rich gas gathering system to serve the Permian Basin. The initial investment of $140 million would include treating, processing and gas takeaway solutions for regional producers. The Bearkat project is to be fully owned by the partnership and is supported by long-term, fee-based contracts, Crosstex said. The complex would be near the partnership’s existing Deadwood joint venture assets in Glasscock County, TX, with an initial capacity of 60 MMcf/d, increasing the partnership’s total operated processing capacity in the Permian to 115 MMcf/d. The partnership also is building a 30-mile high-pressure gathering system upstream of Bearkat to serve Glasscock and Reagan counties. The entire project is scheduled to be operational in summer 2014.

Maine Natural Gas (MNG) has finished filling its new 21-mile natural gas main, which runs from the Maritimes and Northeast pipeline tap in Windsor, ME, and on to the MaineGeneral Medical Center (MGMC) in Augusta, the state’s capital.

Commercial and industrial customers of Crowley Maritime Corp.’s Carib Energy unit in Puerto Rico soon could be enjoying lower energy costs, thanks to cheap liquefied natural gas (LNG) delivered via container from the mainland United States. But savings for prospective customers in Central and South America and the Caribbean are being delayed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

A few North American exploration and production (E&P) operators sneaked in third quarter results over the past few days, but most of the rest will begin their conference calls in the next couple of weeks, offering a broader look at the market and whether natural gas prices — and drilling — could rebound in 2014.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co., the first independent producer to ply Alaska’s North Slope, is selling its Alaska business unit to focus on West Texas.

Shale production will accelerate growth in demand for natural gas, and eventually revive drilling, by stabilizing supplies and prices for decades to come, Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) has been told (see Shale Daily, Oct. 22).