Units

Units of Royal Dutch Shell plc and Kinder Morgan Inc. are forming a partnership to develop a natural gas liquefaction and export plant in two phases at Southern LNG Co. LLC’s Elba Island LNG Terminal near Savannah, GA.

Spectra Energy Partners LP is acquiring a 38.76% interest in Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LLC (M&N) from Spectra Energy Corp. for $319 million in cash and $56 million in newly issued partnership units. M&N owns a 338-mile mainline interstate natural gas pipeline that extends from the border of Canada near Baileyville, ME, to northeastern Massachusetts with delivery capability of 0.8 Bcf/d. The pipeline’s location and interconnects with Spectra’s transmission system link regional natural gas supplies to the Northeast United States and Atlantic Canadian markets. M&N cash flows are backed by an average contract life of approximately 19 years and more than 90% fee-based revenues. The deal is being be through a combination of debt and equity; closing is set for the end of October.

Penn Virginia Corp. has acquired about 4,100 net Eagle Ford Shale acres in Gonzales and Lavaca counties, TX, for about $10 million. Under existing joint venture agreements, other nonoperated working interest owners are expected to acquire 17% of the net acreage in Gonzales County and 46% of the net acreage in Lavaca County, increasing Penn Virginia’s Eagle Ford acreage position by about 3,000 net acres to a total of 30,000 net acres (40,100 gross). The acquired 3,200 net acres of leasehold in Gonzales County is adjacent to Penn Virginia’s development area and is estimated to contain 20 horizontal well locations, excluding any down-spaced drilling opportunities. The acquired 895 net acres of leasehold in Lavaca County is complementary to existing leasehold in nine units, with an estimated addition of 10 horizontal well locations, the company said.

In the midst of its improbable oil and natural gas boom, North Dakota is coming clean on a dirty little secret — flaring of more than one-third of its gas supplies produced in its rapidly expanding Bakken Shale formation’s record-breaking oil production. While the latest analyses look closely at North Dakota’s experience there is no exact measurement of how much of the nation’s flaring is centered there; a reasonable guess is 25%, sources say.

Enterprise Products Partners LP plans to build one of the world’s largest propane dehydrogenation (PDH) units on the Texas Gulf Coast to take advantage of abundant supplies of propane thrown off by shale gas plays and to address periodic shortages of propylene in the region.

Enterprise Products Partners LP plans to build one of the world’s largest propane dehydrogenation (PDH) units on the Texas Gulf Coast to take advantage of abundant supplies of propane thrown off by shale gas plays and to address periodic shortages of propylene in the region.

Total combined natural gas purchase and sales volumes reached 124,752 TBtu in 2011, a 2.5% increase compared with 121,682 TBtu in 2010, according to an analysis by Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) of 2011 Form 552 filings with FERC.

FERC on Wednesday approved for early environmental review Sempra Global’s proposal to construct facilities to liquefy natural gas for export and expand a pipeline that serves the existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Hackberry, LA.

Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday downgraded Chesapeake Energy Corp., as well as its midstream and oilfield services units, to “negative” from “stable” because first quarter results pointed to “an even larger capital spending funding gap for 2012” from low natural prices but also because of a planned increase in spending.