Service

The midstream services unit of NiSource Gas Transmission and Storage (NGT&S) plans to develop a wet and dry gas gathering system to serve the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio.

Industry representatives who say a 2011 Texas Supreme Court decision on the use of eminent domain could stymie efforts to build oil and gas pipelines to service growing production in the state’s shale plays are urging the court to revisit the opinion. The court could decide as early as Friday to either let its previous decision stand, amend that decision or rehear the case.

Industry representatives who say a 2011 Texas Supreme Court decision on the use of eminent domain could stymie efforts to build oil and gas pipelines to service growing production in the state’s shale plays are urging the court to revisit the opinion. The court could decide as early as Friday to either let its previous decision stand, amend that decision or rehear the case.

Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) plans to build a 170-mile pipeline between Alfalfa County, OK, and its Cushing, OK, storage facility to service increasing Mississippi Lime crude oil production in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas, the Houston-based company said.

Enbridge Energy Partners LP (EEP) said Tuesday that for at least the next three years, it plans to rely on rail facilities to transport crude oil from the Bakken Shale and Three Forks formations while it launches long-term plans to expand pipelines in the region.

Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday sliced its North American natural gas price assumptions through 2013 and said with “no relief in sight for overproduction and storage,” it now assumes that gas delivered at the Henry Hub this year will sell for an average of $2.75/MMBtu.

Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday sliced its North American natural gas price assumptions through 2013 and said with “no relief in sight for overproduction and storage,” it now assumes that gas delivered at the Henry Hub this year will sell for an average of $2.75/MMBtu.

President Obama will nominate Tony Clark, who is currently chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC), to become FERC Commissioner, the White House said. Clark, a Republican, has served at the PSC since 2000. He is the immediate past president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and served in the North Dakota House of Representatives from 1994 to 1997. He holds bachelor’s degrees from North Dakota State University and a master’s of public administration from the University of North Dakota. If approved by the Senate, Clark would join Chairman Jon Wellinghoff and Commissioners Philip Moeller, John Norris and Cheryl LaFleur at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Marc Spitzer, a Republican, stepped down last month after completing a five-year term on the Commission (see NGI, Dec. 19, 2011). Spitzer’s departure left the Commission with three Democrats (Wellinghoff, Norris and LaFleur) and one Republican (Moeller). According to FERC rules, his successor must be a Republican or an independent.

ONEOK Partners LP has placed into service its 100 MMcf/d gas processing facility in eastern McKenzie County in North Dakota. The Garden Creek Plant is serving producers in the Bakken Shale region.