Venture

Marking the international company’s first venture into the United States, Vancouver-BC-based Valkyries Petroleum Corp. (previously known as Santa Catalina Mining) said it has paid approximately US$1.1 million to acquire a major share in a large natural gas exploration project in one of the newest major gas producing regions in South Texas.

Horizon Pipeline, a joint venture of Nicor Inc. and Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL) three years in the making, has begun delivering gas in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, ahead of rival project Guardian Pipeline. Gas began flowing through the $80 million Horizon line May 11 following final approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) (see NGI, May 13).

Calgary-based AltaGas Services Inc. said Friday that it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Taylor NGL LP to develop the Joffre Ethane Extraction Plant located in Joffre, AB. AltaGas and Taylor will each own 50% of the Joffre Plant, which is expected to have initial production of 10,400 b/d of natural gas liquids. Under the agreement, Taylor will construct and operate the Joffre Plant, which is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2003. Regulatory approval for the construction and operation has been received and engineering, procurement and construction contracts have been awarded. The Joffre Plant will be located adjacent to the NOVA Chemicals Corp.’s Joffre petrochemical complex and will recover ethane, propane, butane and condensate from the fuel gas used at the complex. The ethane production will be sold to NOVA. “Extraction has been an important part of AltaGas’ asset portfolio since 1994 when we first invested in an extraction facility at Empress, AB,” said David Cornhill, AltaGas CEO. “We made further investments at Empress in 1998 and currently have approximately $29 million invested in extraction facilities providing net processing capacity of 3,680 barrels per day. The investment in the Joffre Plant will more than double our present net extraction processing capacity to 10,353 barrels per day. The Joffre Plant fits AltaGas’ strategy of making prudent investments. It will provide a good mix of stable fee for service and margin-based revenues and add depth to our midstream portfolio.”

Ivanhoe Energy and Unocal have entered into a 50-50 joint venture to explore for oil and natural gas in East Texas will focus on the Bossier Sand prospects in more than 46,000 gross acres (37,000 net) in a three-county area. Unocal will become operator and will fund the drilling costs for several exploration wells to offset the $10 million in leasehold, seismic and processing costs incurred by Ivanhoe. Once “investment equilibrium” is reached, the companies will become equal partners. The Bossier sand trend consists of multiple fields and multiple pay zones, with typical wells producing between 2-4 MMcf/d at an average depth of 12,000 feet. Ivanhoe officials noted that Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the area’s largest operator, has drilled more than 300 Bossier wells, achieving a success rate of “virtually 100%.” Drilling is expected to begin on Ivanhoe’s and Unocal’s Lone Star and Creslenn Ranch prospects. Following a successful exploration phase, Ivanhoe intends to project-finance its share of field development costs.

Islander East Pipeline Co. LLC., a joint venture of subsidiaries of Duke Energy and KeySpan Corp., filed an application with FERC to construct 50 miles of interstate gas pipeline that will transport gas to growing markets in Connecticut, New York City and Long Island, NY. First announced in late January (see NGI, Feb. 5), the 250 MMcf/d pipe is expected to be in service in 2003.

Islander East Pipeline Co. LLC., a joint venture of subsidiaries of Duke Energy and KeySpan Corp., filed an application with FERC to construct 50 miles of interstate gas pipeline that will transport gas to growing markets in Connecticut, New York City and Long Island, NY. First announced in late January (see Daily GPI, Jan. 30), the 250 MMcf/d pipe is expected to be in service in 2003.

Fluor Corporation and Duke Energy Corp. named Jeff Faulk president and CEO of Duke/Fluor Daniel, a joint venture of the two companies that provides global engineering, construction and operating services to fossil-fueled power generating facilities. Faulk comes to the partnership from Fluor Daniel, where he most recently served as senior vice president, operations for the Americas, within the energy & chemicals strategic business unit. Harvey Padewer, group president of Energy Services for Duke Energy, said the partnership is poised to emerge as the clear leader in fossil-fueled power generation under Faulk’s leadership. “Last year, Duke/Fluor Daniel was building one out of every 3 MW of natural gas-fired generation under construction in the U.S.,” Padewer said. “The industry is beginning to take serious notice of this partnership and its global project portfolio — that includes everything from combined cycle plants to innovative clean- burning coal technology.”

Duke/Fluor Daniel, a joint venture between Duke Energy and Fluor Corp,. yesterday disclosed that it has been awarded contracts by Duke Energy North America (DENA) to perform engineering, procurement and construction services for four natural gas-fired, combined cycle power generation facilities with a combined capacity of 3,050 MW.

A joint venture by Southeastern based utilities Piedmont NaturalGas and Duke Power will use their overlapping service territoriesto find “opportunities to gain mutual efficiencies,” includingconsolidating and upgrading their meter reading programs andjointly negotiating for contractor services to enhance customerservice.