South

Gulf South Pipeline Co. LP is targeting growing industrial demand in the Baton Rouge-New Orleans, LA, region with a potential expansion of its system that would tap shale gas supplies from multiple basins. The project joins another targeting a similar market from rival Spectra Energy Transmission.

NuStar Energy LPaffiliateNuStar Logistics LPhas extended an open season to Sept. 30 for its proposed South Texas Crude Oil Pipeline. NuStar is assessing shipper interest incapacityto transport Eagle Ford Shale crude oil from several terminal locations on its South Texas system in Frio, McMullen and La Salle counties to its Corpus Christi, TX, North Beach facility (seeShale Daily,July 24).

The United States has been the sole customer for Canada’s oil industry, but with energy independence on the horizon south of the border, Canadians are looking for other markets.

Houston-based Memorial Production Partners LP (MEMP) has agreed to acquire oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin, East Texas and the Rockies from its sponsor, Memorial Resource Development LLC, and affiliates of Natural Gas Partners for $606 million. The deal is MEMP’s largest acquisition to date and gets the partnership’s foot in the door in the Permian and Rockies.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) was to start up service over the weekend on the first pipeline loop of its major Northeast Supply Link expansion, one of the key links in sending new gas out of the Marcellus Shale.

A wildfire along the Western Slope in Colorado south of Rangely in the Piceance Basin prompted Denver-based Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. to close 500 conventional natural gas wells in Rio Blanco County and evacuate an eight-worker plant. The shutdown was expected to continue at least through Friday, a Colorado-based Encana spokesperson told NGI.

A flood debris-driven sour gas leak on a wellhead pipeline in the Turner Valley south of Calgary was brought under control at midday Friday, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator and the natural gas production operator, Calgary-based Legacy Oil & Gas Inc.

Piedmont Natural Gas will be soliciting bids for asset management services and gas supply beginning Nov. 1 for its North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee operations. The Charlotte, NC-based utility has a total system throughput of more than 250 Bcf/year, with firm transportation contracts on multiple pipelines. Piedmont will be seeking asset management services, seasonal, and year-round supply for contract terms yet to be determined. To receive a copy of the request for proposals when posted, contact Keith Maust at (704) 731-4901, or Sarah Stabley at (704) 731-4907.

The Interior Department is moving at an “accelerated” pace on a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) to allow exploration and production off the Mid- and South Atlantic coast, department officials told a Senate committee last Thursday. The agency also said it has given the public an additional 60 days for a total of 90 days to comment on the proposed hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rule.