Scheduled

Enterprise Products Partners LP has sold out capacity at its planned 1.65 billion pounds/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH), which is scheduled to begin operation during the third quarter of 2015. In anticipation of a continuing decrease in supplies of propylene, Enterprise is in talks with additional customers that could lead to the development of additional PDH capacity, the company said. Last June Enterprise said it would build a PDH facility on the Texas Gulf Coast that would consume up to 35,000 b/d of propane to produce 1.65 billion pounds/year (750,000 metric tons per year or 25,000 b/d) of polymer-grade propylene (PGP) (see Shale Daily, June 22, 2012). The facility is to be integrated with the partnership’s existing propylene fractionation facilities, which have capacity of 5.3 billion pounds/year. The PDH facility will also be integrated with Enterprise’s PGP storage facilities, 102-mile distribution pipeline system and export terminal. “This [PDH capacity] demand is being driven by the combination of a 38% decrease in propylene supplies since 2006 due to additional ethane consumption by U.S. petrochemical companies and the growing supplies of domestic propane from the U.S. shale plays,” said Jim Teague, COO of Enterprise’s general partner.

FERC Friday issued favorable environmental assessments (EA) for two Marcellus Shale-related projects in Pennsylvania and New York: the Tioga Area Expansion Project and the Sabinsville-to-Morrisville Project.

Range Resources Corp.’s planned five-rig drilling program for 2013 in the Mississippian Lime, which was scheduled to start up early next year, already is under way based on encouraging results from a crop of wells in the Nemaha Ridge area, the company said last week.

An infrastructure development slowdown across the Marcellus Shale region over the next 12 months will sharply reduce the rate of production growth, to 1.3 Bcf/d from growth of 2.3 Bcf/d in the last 12 months, according to FBR Capital Markets.

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP, which serves producers in West Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, surpassed a record for processed natural gas volumes in 3Q2012, which were up 36% from a year ago, executives said Wednesday.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. is forming a joint venture (JV) in the Niobrara formation with Haimo Oil & Gas LLC, a unit of China’s Lanzhou Haimo Technologies Co. Ltd. Separately, the company announced third quarter production growth for oil, condensate and natural gas liquids (NGL).

Deliberations were scheduled to continue Thursday at the New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission (OCC) on proposed industry-prompted modifications to the state’s so-call pit rule for handling natural gas and oil drilling and production waste.

Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. closed a previously announced $243 million sale of approximately 85% of Bakken and Three Forks shale assets in the Williston Basin held by its Black Hills Exploration & Production Inc. (see Shale Daily, Aug. 27). The sale was effective July 1. CEO David Emery said the sale will allow the energy holding company to reduce its overall debt and fund growth projects. Black Hills also said it intends to redeem $225 million of senior unsecured 6.5% notes that were scheduled to mature May 15, 2013.

A Mexican government official said state-owned petroleum company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) will spend $200 million over the next three years exploring two shale formations in the country for natural gas.