storage

Spectra Energy Corp. has completed its $540 million acquisition of the Bobcat Gas Storage assets and development project from Haddington Energy Partners III LP and GE Energy Financial Services. The company said it expects to invest $400-450 million to fully develop the facility by the end of 2015, bringing working capacity to 46 Bcf. The Bobcat assets interconnect with five interstate pipelines, including Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission. The deal was announced in July (see Daily GPI, July 19).

Dominion natural gas transmission and storage subsidiary Dominion Transmission has struck a 10-year lease agreement with Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. for firm capacity in support of a project to move Marcellus Shale gas.

Tenaska Marketing Ventures/Tenaska Marketing Canada/Tenaska Gas Storage (collectively TMV) has renewed a $1 billion committed credit facility for a four-year term maturing in July 2014. The facility, first established in 2006, will be used to finance TMV’s natural gas inventory transactions and as liquidity support for TMV’s operations. TMV is the natural gas marketing affiliate of Tenaska, which recently was ranked eighth in NGI’s North American natural gas quarterly trading survey (see Daily GPI, June 10). Tenaska regained control of TMV in January 2009 after completing a repurchase from affiliates of American International Group Inc., which at the time owned a half stake in the venture (see Daily GPI, Jan. 9, 2009). BNP Paribas and Societe Generale were co-lead arrangers of the credit facility renewal; the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., Rabobank Nederland, Natixis and Credit Agricole CIB were co-documentation agents. A total of 20 lenders participated in the facility.

Due to an engine failure at MRT’s Unionville Storage facilities, starting Wednesday through approximately Aug. 6 the pipeline will be limited in injection capability there. See the bulletin board for associated transport restrictions.

Despite still having a record level of natural gas in storage for this time of year, analysts at Goldman Sachs say the relatively low trading range of $3.90 to $4.40/MMBtu that the natural gas futures market occupied until early June combined with warm weather has led to tighter fundamentals.

U.S. natural gas producers’ “zest” to continue pouring it on to up their output in light of full storage and low prices may appear foolhardy, but considering their motivations, the growth in the U.S. rig count isn’t too surprising, said energy analysts last week.

U.S. natural gas producers’ “zest” to continue pouring it on to up their output in light of full storage and low prices may appear foolhardy, but considering their motivations, the growth in the U.S. rig count isn’t too surprising, said energy analysts at Barclays Capital.

U.S. natural gas producers’ “zest” to continue pouring it on to up their output in light of full storage and low prices may appear foolhardy, but considering their motivations, the growth in the U.S. rig count isn’t too surprising, said energy analysts at Barclays Capital.

Chicago-area LDC Nicor Gas lifted Tuesday caps on deliveries into its system that had been in effect for weeks, saying storage injections at the Nicor Gas Hub would no longer be interrupted.