Split

A two-phase approach to the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries should result in a new line from Oklahoma to the Gulf being in place sometime next year, with the XL phase from Canada to Nebraska following by early 2015, the CEO of the project’s sponsor, TransCanada Corp., said Friday. The latter is the only part of the project now requiring a federal Presidential Permit from the U.S. State Department.

The five-member California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday split over the fate of an independent power provider’s natural gas-fired generation plant, but in the end approved it and a long-delayed gas-fired peaking plant in Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles.

The promised re-application of a newly split two-part Keystone XL oil pipeline project to the U.S. State Department is still six to eight weeks away, a Calgary, Alberta-based spokesperson for TransCanada Corp. told NGI’s Shale Daily.

Pennsylvania lawmakers have apparently reached a deal on an impact fee to impose on unconventional natural gas wells that would split the revenue 60% to local governments and 40% to the state, and toughen drilling restrictions, but leave control of those rules primarily in state hands.

Linda Lay, the widow of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, who died in 2006, has agreed to split two annuity accounts with Enron Creditors Recovery Corp. (ECRC) to settle all remaining litigation between Enron and the Lays. The Lays were sued by ECRC over allegedly fraudulent transfers that preceded Enron’s bankruptcy in late 2001. According to the lawsuit, Enron loaned Kenneth Lay money that he repaid with company stock; Enron also agreed to buy some of the Lays’ annuities for $10 million, which today are considered worthless. The settlement, which was completed through mediation, was “fair,” said ECRC, because Kenneth Lay’s estate is insolvent and Linda Lay has “extremely limited” assets. The settlement, which requires court approval, is to be heard July 7 before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez in New York City (The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Enron Corp et al v. Lay et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 03-ap-02075).

Williams will split itself into two standalone publicly traded corporations, the Tulsa-based company said last week, in a move aimed at value enhancement that has been on the minds of company executives for a while.

The five-member elected New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) selected a newcomer, Patrick Lyons, for its chairman on a split 3-2 vote Tuesday among the PRC members. Lyons is promoting a more pro-business approach to the state’s regulatory scheme.

Victory for Republican candidate Tom Corbett in the race for governor of Pennsylvania and the replacement of split leadership in the legislature with the GOP takeover of both houses may be the death knell for a natural gas severance tax in the state — or not.

Responding to calls for greater regulation in the offshore, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last Tuesday announced plans to split the Minerals Management Service (MMS) into two independent entities, with one enforcing safety and environmental matters and the other handling leasing, revenue collection and permitting functions.