Temporary

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. is planning to build production through the rest of this year from its substantial asset base in the Appalachian Basin after being knocked back early this year from a lack of pipeline capacity for natural gas liquids (NGL), CEO Gary Evans said Tuesday.

A county court judge in Nacogdoches, TX, on Thursday dissolved a landowner’s temporary restraining order (TRO) against TransCanada Corp. that attempted to stop construction of the southern portion of the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the requests of Wyoming Interstate Co. (WIC) Questar Overthrust Pipeline and Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) for temporary waivers of capacity-release regulations, clearing the way for the permanent release of off-system capacity held on WIC’s pipeline to certain shippers. The capacity-release transactions are a one-time basis only and have to be done within 90 days. WIC currently holds 200,000 Dth/d of off-system capacity on REX and has three transportation agreements for capacity on Questar Overthrust to provide shippers on its system seamless transportation service. A breakdown of the agreements held by WIC on Overthrust includes 365,000 Dth/d through 2017; 190,00 Dth/d from November 2018 to September 2020; and two contracts for 120,000 Dth/d and 40,000 Dth/d, both of which run through 2020, according to Overthrust’s waiver request. WIC is proposing to release permanently all or a portion of the reserve capacity that it holds on Overthrust. With respect to the capacity on Overthrust, WIC told FERC it has encountered unexpected nominations and scheduling issues that have affected the quality and reliability of service received by WIC shippers. After “actively collaborating” to resolve the issues, “WIC states both pipelines [it and Overthrust] have agreed that the ideal solution is to permanently release WIC’s Overthrust capacity to the respective shippers on whose behalf WIC acquired the off-system capacity.” Three shippers have expressed an interest in a permanent release of the Overthrust capacity: Occidental Energy Marketing Inc., Marathon Oil Co. and WPX Energy Inc, according to WIC [RP12-1018].”Two of these shippers, Occidental and Marathon, also rely on REX off-system capacity, which WIC acquired on their behalf.

City council members in Lafayette, CO, agreed Tuesday to consider a temporary ban on oil and natural gas drilling while they revise regulations that have not been updated since 1994.

As the Bakken and Eagle Ford shale plays have shown, oil and gas wells go up long before there are enough homes for all the workers who flock to the energy patch for high-paying jobs. A study released Tuesday intends to lay out a strategy for Eagle Ford counties in South Texas to meet regional housing needs over the next 10-15 years.

Legislators in the Pennsylvania General Assembly are scrambling to put the finishing touches on a tax code bill that could potentially offer billions in a tax break to companies in exchange for investing billions in an ethane cracker and associated manufacturing facilities.

December natural gas suffered a bruising double-digit loss Tuesday in what observers noted was at least a temporary joining of hands with free-falling petroleum and Greece-centric equity markets. At the close December had fallen 15.3 cents to $3.781 and January had retreated 13.6 cents to $3.920. December crude oil dropped $1.00 to $92.19/bbl; the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 297 points to 11,658, and the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index shed a whopping 35 points to 1,218.

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (APL) saw volumes and natural gas liquids (NGL) increase across all systems in 2Q2011, but limited processing capacity and temporary plant outages combined to keep a lid on earnings, the partnership said.

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (APL) saw volumes and natural gas liquids (NGL) increase across all systems in 2Q2011, but limited processing capacity and temporary plant outages combined to keep a lid on earnings, the partnership said Tuesday.