Services

After close collaboration for years by Portland, OR-based utilities NW Natural and Portland General Electric (PGE), a unique natural gas storage service is closer to becoming a reality in the Pacific Northwest in response to an evolving electric-gas sector relationship that has become more critical with renewables growth.

As it continues pushing to finish constructing its $4.2 billion Rover Pipeline by 4Q2017, Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) through its affiliates has asked FERC for authorization to place the related Panhandle and Trunkline backhaul projects into service.

Schlumberger Ltd. has begun to rapidly pull idled hydraulic fracturing equipment off the stacks and is rehiring people in North America to build on a long-awaited recovery for the oil and gas business.

In a state in which the Bakken oil boom produces more than 1.5 Bcf/d of associated natural gas, most smaller towns still depend on propane for their thermal energy needs, and that is likely to continue as economics and the propane suppliers’ lobby tend to keep local communities from making the transformation.

Mexico’s CENAGAS last Friday concluded a further stage of its open season for pipeline capacity in the Integrated Natural Gas Transportation and Storage System (SISTRANGAS).

Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and the state’s regulatory staff said Tuesday they have reached a $2.75 million settlement for the combination utility’s role in a natural gas pipeline explosion in Seattle last year.

Construction of Dow Chemical Co.’s world-scale ethylene production facility in Freeport, TX, is complete. The ethylene unit is in commissioning and expected to enter operation by mid-year, the company said.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. (Transco) has asked FERC to authorize partial path interim service for its Dalton Expansion Project.

Algonquin Gas Transmission placed into service on Jan. 7 the remaining facilities of its 342,000 Dth/d Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project, which transports natural gas produced in the Marcellus and Utica shales from Ramapo, NY, to citygates in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.