Restart

U.S. natural gas prices nosedived Tuesday afternoon after Freeport LNG Development LP outlined plans to restart partial operations at its export terminal on the Upper Texas Coast later than expected in November. The company had previously guided for a restart in early October.  Initial production is now expected to begin in early to mid-November and…

Feed gas started trickling into Sempra Energy’s Cameron liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Louisiana over the weekend, a little more than a month after it was shut down before Hurricane Laura made landfall.  About 12 MMcf of natural gas was delivered to the facility on Sunday, with the same amount scheduled for Monday,…

The restart of one liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Louisiana, Cameron LNG, could occur this month, but some are warning in a worst-case scenario, the facility could be offline until November. The terminal was shuttered in late August by Hurricane Laura. Majority owner Sempra Energy has not said when the 2.3 Bcf/d facility…

Kinder Morgan Inc. is bringing production units back online at its Elba Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Georgia after a fire at the facility on May 11.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has slapped Sunoco Pipeline LP with a “historic” $12.6 million fine to resolve dozens of violations related to the company’s Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project, which has also been cleared to restart construction that was suspended early last month.

Rover Pipeline LLC continues to press FERC on a request to restart horizontal directional drilling (HDD), filing supplemental information and third-party analyses to persuade the Commission to lift a May moratorium.

Ohio pure-play Eclipse Resources Corp. said late Tuesday it has revived its idled drilling program and plans to take advantage of the improving natural gas strip by working down its drilled but uncompleted (DUC) inventory and ending price-related production curtailments.

TPC Group Inc. plans to produce on-purpose isobutylene with the refurbishment and restart of dehydrogenation assets at its Houston operations. The isobutylene feedstock will be used for the company’s performance products and fuels business, including methyl tertiary-butyl ether, polyisobutylene, high-purity isobutylene and diisobutylene. Start-up is planned for the second half of 2014. The facilities will produce up to 650 million pounds per year of isobutylene from isobutane, a natural gas liquids feedstock whose production volumes continue to increase as a result of U.S. shale gas development, TPC said. Total capital expenditure for the project is estimated at $265 million. TPC recently agreed to be taken private by First Reserve Corp. and SK Capital Partners in a cash-and-debt transaction valued at $850 million (see Shale Daily, Aug. 30).

Physical prices Monday were up a nickel on average as West Coast traders reported power shortfalls resulting from a delayed restart of nuclear generating capacity, and warm temperatures in Texas added to loads. Government figures reported a modest decline in natural gas production and futures romped higher. At the close of trading June had increased 9.9 cents to $2.285 on stout volume, and July gained 9.5 cents to $2.394. June crude oil eased 6 cents to $104.87/bbl.