Tentative

Units of Russia’s Gazprom and Pangea LNG B.V. have struck a tentative 20-year offtake agreement for the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be produced from a floating facility sourcing gas from the Tamar and Dalit fields offshore Israel. The terminal, if constructed, would be the world’s first project-financed floating LNG (FLNG) facility.

State of New Mexico officials, Albuquerque-based utility PNM and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last Friday reached a tentative agreement on an emission reductions plan that would shutter two coal-fired generation units and create new natural gas-fired generation.

A unit of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) has a tentative agreement with Port of Corpus Christi, TX, administrators to acquire a major portion of the former U.S. Naval Station Ingleside. Oxy’s Ingleside Property Holdings LLC would acquire more than 1,200 acres for $82.1 million. Completion of the deal is subject to approval of the Port Corpus Christi commission and the company’s board. “Definitely, Eagle Ford Shale is part of the opportunity that plays into this strategic investment,” Paul Thomas, manager of Oxy Chem’s existing Ingleside, TX, plant told the Corpus Christi Caller Times. An Oxy spokesman would not provide additional information when contacted by NGI’s Shale Daily.

All Denver area power plants by the end of 2017 would burn natural gas instead of coal under a package of tentative approvals by the three-member Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

A tentative deal to close California’s $26 billion budget deficit includes provisions for reopening limited offshore oil drilling along the Santa Barbara coast. A similar compromise for boosting state revenues with the first new drilling in 40 years was rejected last January by the California State Lands Commission, but has been given new life in the budget talks (see Daily GPI, Feb. 2).

Williams Partners LP and Williams signed a tentative agreement for the dropdown of the membership interest in the company that owns the Wamsutter gas gathering and processing system to the partnership, the companies said Thursday.

Northern Natural Gas, operator of the Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS), said construction delays have changed its tentative schedule for restoring service on MOPS following a June 12 shutdown (see Daily GPI, July 20). Nine platforms are now scheduled to be reactivated during the gas days of Friday and Saturday for pressure testing of the system and bringing the mainline back to normal operating pressure. A pig launching from the Mustang 758 platform is set for Monday of next week to clear accumulated liquids. Nominations will be accepted for Monday’s gas day for the nine platforms that were activated to facilitate the pigging activity. The pig is expected to be received at the Tivoli (TX) Plant on or before Aug. 3, where the plant is expected to take a minimum of three days to process the liquids. All platform production will be shut in during the liquids processing. Once they have been processed, the MOPS system will return to normal operations. Currently that is expected to happen Aug. 7, Northern Natural said.

Northern Natural Gas, operator of the Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS), has posted a tentative plan for returning MOPS to service. In a project to disconnect and abandon the Matagorda Island 686C compression platform, the 24-inch diameter line was shut in and blown down June 12 from Mustang Island 758 to the onshore Tivoli, TX, processing plant. The project was expected to be completed July 16, but weather problems plagued the subsea work and the outage was extended, a Northern spokeswoman said. The work caused 21 receipt points and seven delivery points to be shut in. Eight MOPS platforms in addition to Mustang Island 758 will be brought on-line Monday and Tuesday to pressure test the system and bring the mainline back to normal operating pressure. On Wednesday a pig will be launched from the Mustang Island 758 platform to clear accumulated liquids from the mainline. Nominations will be accepted for Wednesday’s gas day for the nine platforms listed (see bulletin board) to facilitate the pigging activity. The pig is expected to be received at the Tivoli plant on or before July 29, and it is expected to take a minimum of three days afterward to process the liquids. All platform production will be shut in during the liquids processing. Once the liquids have been processed the MOPS system will return to normal operations, which is expected to be for the Aug. 2 gas day.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and its partners gained tentative approval last week from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to drill up to 2,000 natural gas wells in the Atlantic Rim Natural Gas Project in the eastern Washaki Basin, located in Carbon County, WY. Anadarko is developing the project with Warren Resources Inc. and Double Eagle Petroleum and Mining Co.