Signed

More than 30 mayors have signed a statement urging the federal government and state legislatures to support local control of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). But the move was mostly a symbolic gesture because fracking isn’t performed in most of the cities and towns that the signatories represent.

The state of Alaska and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that could advance a large-volume natural gas pipeline and related liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility to commercialize the state’s stranded gas reserves.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy has signed legislation that would expand the state’s natural gas distribution system at the same time as a planned expansion of Algonquin Gas Transmission will increase supply access to New England.

Russia’s Gazprom and Japan Far East Gas Co. Ltd. have signed a memorandum of understanding for the Vladivostok-LNG project that outlines their cooperation on the Russian liquefaction and export project and arrangements for marketing of its output in Japan, Gazprom said Monday.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker said her city has signed an agreement with locally based Reliant Energy, an NRG Energy Inc. company, to purchase more than 140 MW of renewable power through June 30, 2015. Parker said the city’s purchase of green power will account for half of its annual electricity demand, making it the largest municipal purchaser of renewable power in the nation, and in the top 10 overall nationally, according to federal energy statistical estimates. Through Reliant, Houston has purchased renewable energy credits (RECs) that are Green-E certified. Noting that they are “taking advantage of more cost effective and cost competitive REC prices,” city officials contend that they have maintained a relatively flat power price while also increasing the percentage of renewable energy in the city’s portfolio. Houston has committed $2 million for the two-year agreement, less than a cent/kWh on top of the city’s power price. In addition to purchasing green power, Houston has been purchasing and building renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar.

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.

The Indiana Supreme Court announced Thursday that it will hear a case involving a 30-year contract for the state to purchase coal-to-substitute natural gas (SNG) from a proposed $2.8 billion gasification plant in southwestern Indiana.

GE Oil & Gas has signed an $84 million agreement with the exploration and production arm of Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to provide and install subsea high-capacity wellheads for deepwater and ultra-deepwater drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The GOM is estimated to hold more than half of Mexico’s prospective energy resources, but it needs advanced technology to tap the oil and gas, according to GE. The high-technology subsea wellheads would provide a larger load, pressure capacity and a full-bore design, helping drillers reach greater depths. Pemex is to receive SMS800 and DWHC 700 wellheads, similar technology that GE already has installed at several Mexican oilfields including Perdido, Lakach and Kunah.

As part of its multi-sourced, multi-year integrated resource plan (IRP) approved by state regulators three years ago, (PGE) said Monday it has signed deals to develop a 440 MW natural gas-fired electric generation plant in Oregon, along with new wind power and electric transmission.