Units

General Motors expects the 650-mile, extended-range workhorse vehicles will be on the road by the end of the year.

San Diego-based energy holding company Sempra Energy said all of its business units met or exceeded their financial objectives this year. As a result, Sempra said it expects to meet or exceed the higher end of its previously announced 2011 earnings-per-share guidance of $4-4.30. The guidance excluded a second quarter $1.14/share gain from South American utility acquisitions. On a generally accepted accounting principles basis Sempra’s previously announced guidance was $5.14-5.44/share, which the company also expects to meet or exceed. Sempra’s 4Q2011 and full-year 2011 results are scheduled to be announced Feb. 28.

Energy technology developer Freestone Resources Inc. is teaming up with MEA Solutions LLC, a Houston-based oilfield services operator, to provide a “total solution” for water resource management that would include recycling flowback water from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations in the onshore.

FERC’s Office of Enforcement said Thursday it made a preliminary determination that units of BP plc violated Commission rules against manipulation of the natural gas market in a case involving trading at the Houston Ship Channel (HSC).

FERC’s Office of Enforcement said last Thursday it made a preliminary determination that units of BP plc violated Commission rules against manipulation of the natural gas market in a case involving trading at the Houston Ship Channel (HSC).

Two of Edison International’s Edison Mission Group (EMG) generation units had their ratings and outlook downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the prospects for continuing cash flow problems exacerbated by “low energy and capacity prices.” EMG’s Edison Mission Energy (EME) and subsidiary Midwest Generation Co. were downgraded — for EME from “B3” to “Caa1” for its senior unsecured notes; from “B2” to “B3” for it corporate family rating; and the outlook was set at negative for both of EMG’s independent generators. “The downgrade recognizes the continuing multi-year challenge that EME faces in satisfying state and federal environmental requirements across its generation fleet,” Moody’s said.

El Paso Corp. and Spectra Energy Corp. said their Marcellus Ethane Pipeline System (MEPS) (see Shale Daily, Oct. 26, 2010) is holding a 30-day binding open season for shippers that desire ethane transportation service from West Virginia and Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale supply areas to destination interconnect points with third-party ethane pipelines or storage facilities in the Gulf Coast area. The MEPS project is being designed to transport up to 90,000 b/d and has an anticipated in-service date of 4Q 2014. The open season will close at 5 p.m. EDT on July 27. For more information visit www.elpaso.com/midstream.

Encore Energy Partners LP (ENP) and its general partner, Vanguard Natural Resources LLC, each are acquiring a 50% stake in producing oil and gas assets in the Permian Basin from a private seller for a total price of $85 million.

Royal Dutch Shell said Monday it is planning to build a “world-scale” ethylene cracker with integrated derivative units in the Marcellus Shale in Appalachia. The cracker would process ethane from Marcellus natural gas to produce ethylene, one of the primary building blocks for petrochemicals.