Southeast

New Mexico regulators on Thursday approved more natural gas-fired generation in the southeast part of the state bordering on the greater El Paso area. The Texas Public Utility Commission previously approved the El Paso Electric Co. project.

A rupture on Enterprise Products Partners LP’s 20-inch diameter South Texas pipeline system in Wilson County southeast of San Antonio shut down a stretch of roadway Thursday afternoon, but there were no injuries and only one producer was affected, an Enterprise spokesman said. “We don’t know what happened, but shortly before 1 [p.m. Thursday] our control room personnel detected a pressure drop on that line and immediately began shutdown procedures…” spokesman Rick Rainey told NGI. “There was no ignition…but the line did rupture. A couple of county roads were shut down for a brief period. Repairs were expected to be completed by last Saturday morning. Rainey said there was no excavation going on in the area as far as Enterprise officials knew. The cause was under investigation.

Natural gas found in North Texas water wells did not come from the Barnett Shale but rather the gas-bearing Strawn formation, which is closer to the surface, hearing examiners at the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) said in a report released Monday. If accepted by commissioners, the finding would exonerate Range Resources Corp., which had been accused of contaminating the wells with its Barnett drilling activities.

Bill Barrett Corp. executives said last Wednesday the company will be on the lookout for acquisition opportunities during the year, primarily in the company’s traditional backyard of the Rocky Mountains, but outside the Rockies, “we’ll take a look at it,” CEO Fred Barrett told financial analysts.

Affiliates Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas and Electric lifted Friday transmission curtailments for all interruptible and a number of firm noncore customers in southeast California’s Riverside, Imperial and San Diego counties.

As a result of the abundant, lower-priced natural gas shale resources being developed, coal is in danger of losing its No. 1 spot in the power generation market — permanently, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said in a recent report.

MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources LLC has signed up units of Chesapeake Energy Corp. for additional midstream services in the Marcellus Shale in northern West Virginia, the partnership said Wednesday.

Due to a possible leak, ANR said Thursday it would begin unplanned pipeline inspection on the 708 Line in the Southeast Area Fuel Segment, causing the Cheniere Perdue location to be shut in until further notice.

ANR reported completing repairs at the Eunice Compressor Station in southeast Louisiana and has lifted all associated capacity restrictions.