Serving

NiSource Midstream Services LLC’s Big Pine Gathering System in the heart of the Marcellus Shale has begun serving XTO Energy Inc. under a long-term agreement. The 57-mile, 20- and 24-inch diameter system stretches into Pennsylvania’s Allegheny, Butler, Armstrong, Indiana and Westmoreland counties and interconnects to the Columbia Gas Transmission system, as well as Texas Eastern Transmission and Dominion Transmission. The system is anchored by XTO; a separate gathering agreement was recently signed with PennEnergy.

With a 40-year history of serving the region’s energy needs via tractor-trailer trucks, Transgas, the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucking company in the Northeast, is now using the fuel to power its trucking fleet.

With acquisitions and infrastructure agreements in hand, Waltham, MA-based Global Partners LP, a publicly traded master limited partnership, is establishing a “virtual pipeline” for shipping North Dakota Bakken and Canadian crude oil to refineries on both the U.S. West and East Coasts.

As a bill to ban actively engaged oil and natural gas representatives from serving on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) neared a final vote in the state senate Monday or Tuesday, a coalition of business and citizens groups commended the more than 120 local elected officials who have publicly supported the governor’s pursuit of reasonable oil and gas solutions.

Enterprise Products Partners LP plans to “significantly” expand its crude oil storage and distribution infrastructure serving the southeast Texas refinery market, the partnership said Thursday. The move is in response to the displacement of imported waterborne crude by domestic supply from unconventional basins.

Randy L. Limbacher, former chairman, CEO and president of Rosetta Resources Inc., is taking the helm of Tulsa onshore operator Samson Resources Corp. Limbacher, who has 32 years in the exploration business, ran Rosetta from November 2007 until the end of February. He previously was president of exploration and production in the Americas for ConocoPhillips and worked at predecessor Burlington Resources Inc. for 20 years. “With positions in some of the best plays in North America, a dedicated team of talented executives, and the backing of leading energy investors, Samson is well positioned to begin its next phase of growth,” said Limbacher.

The Texas Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment of Toby Baker of Austin to serve as a commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Baker has been serving in that capacity since his appointment by Gov. Rick Perry on April 16. His term will expire on Aug. 31, 2017. Baker also serves as the governor’s designee to the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, the Coastal Land Advisory Board, and the state’s representative to the Gulf of Mexico Alliance.

After serving 11 years as one of three regulators on the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC), Patrick Oshie stepped down last Friday. A successor will be appointed by Washington’s Gov.-elect, Jay Inslee. Oshie was a partner in a Yakima, WA law firm when then-Gov. Gary Locke appointed him to the UTC in 2001; he was subsequently appointed to a second six-year term by Gov. Chris Gregoire in 2006. Oshie previously had served as an assistant city attorney in Seattle and an assistant attorney general in Utah, where he also was a law professor.

FERC Thursday opened Section 5 Natural Gas Act (NGA) investigations into the rates charged by pipelines Wyoming Interstate Co. (WIC) and Viking Gas Transmission to determine if they are over-recovering their costs, resulting in unjust and unreasonable rates for their shippers.