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HollyFrontier Corp. and Holly Energy Partners LP are collaborating to construct a rail facility that will enable crude oil loading and unloading near HollyFrontier’s Artesia and/or Lovington, NM, refining facilities. The rail project, which will be connected to Holly Energy’s crude oil pipeline system in southeastern New Mexico, will have an initial capacity of up to 70,000 b/d and will enable access to a variety of crude oil types including West Texas Intermediate, West Texas Sour and Western Canadian Select. The project will provide additional crude oil takeaway options for producers as crude production in the region continues to grow, and an expanded set of crude oil sourcing options for HollyFrontier. Completion is expected by early 2014.

Canada Minister of International Trade Ed Fast said his country is an “energy superpower” that “must” export more oil and natural gas to Asian markets in announcing plans for a trade mission to China and Japan in hopes of increasing exports.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) and BP North America have struck a long-term, fee-based agreement supporting an additional 50,000 b/d of throughput capacity at a condensate processing facility KMP is constructing on the Houston Ship Channel.

Noting that it wants to give the public an adequate opportunity to review and comment, the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said Wednesday that it is extending the public comment period on two proposed rules: to list as endangered the gunnison sage grouse, which is found south of the Colorado River in Colorado and Utah, and to designate 1.7 million acres of critical habitat for the bird under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The Missouri Public Service Commission continues to investigate a natural gas explosion in Kansas City, MO, on Feb. 19, which killed at least one person and injured more than a dozen others (see Daily GPI, Feb. 22). According to Kansas City Manager Troy Schulte, Heartland Midwest LLC did not have a permit to drill and excavate near the site. A Heartland crew contracted by Time Warner Cable Inc. was installing a fiber optic cable when it apparently punctured a two-inch diameter natural gas pipeline operated by Missouri Gas Energy.

Texas crude oil production during November was up from a year ago while natural gas production declined; during December, oil well completions were up while gas well completions declined, and the number of drilling permits issued was down from a year ago, according to the latest figures from Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC).

UGI Corp. has entered into agreements with Tenaska affiliate Tenaska Resources LLC to jointly develop natural gas resources in the Marcellus Shale in north-central Pennsylvania, the company said Monday.

Maine’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on Thursday approved a Summit Natural Gas of Maine request to provide service to customers in 17 municipalities in the Kennebec Valley region, a decision that could complicate matters for a competitor that already is building a new gas pipeline in part of the area.

Georgia Power said it will ask the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) to allow it to switch two of its coal-fired electricity generating units to natural gas and to decertify 13 coal- and oil-fired generating plants in its fleet when it files an updated integrated resource plan with the PSC on Jan. 31.