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Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) unit Centurion Pipeline LP is holding an open season through July 1 for capacity to transport crude oil from Irion, Sterling, Coke, Tom Green and Mitchell counties in West Texas to Centurion’s Colorado City, TX, station. The project targets crude oil production from the Permian Basin’s Cline Shale, which is thought by some to be “the next Eagle Ford.”

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP is holding a binding open season for its Mariner South Pipeline, which is intended to transport export-grade propane and butane, from Lone Star NGL LLC’s storage and fractionation complex in Mont Belvieu, TX, to Sunoco Logistics’ terminal in Nederland, TX. The pipeline is to be available for other natural gas liquids and petroleum products depending on shipper interest, Sunoco said. Initial capacity is expected to be 200,000 b/d and could be scaled to support higher volumes as needed. The pipeline is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2015. For information, visit www.sunocologistics.com/marinersouth.

Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP and Apache Corp. have struck a new fee-based gas gathering, processing and purchasing agreement in support of Apache’s drilling in the Texas Panhandle. Apache has dedicated all existing and future wells drilled within an area encompassing more than 106,000 gross acres in Hemphill, Lipscomb, Ochiltree, Roberts, Hansford and Sherman counties under market-based terms. The agreement supersedes and expands on previous agreements between Eagle Rock and Apache. The dedicated acreage covers the Granite Wash, Hogshooter, Tonkawa, Marmaton and Cleveland plays in the Anadarko Basin. The associated Apache production will be gathered and processed at one or more of the partnership’s cryogenic processing plants in the Panhandle. Eagle Rock’s Panhandle assets consist of 6,500 miles of gathering pipeline and more than 480 MMcf/d of processing capacity, with an additional 60 MMcf/d of processing capacity expected to come online in the second quarter.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is planning to visit Japan “soon” to discuss with officials there natural gas exports and the state of Japan’s nuclear market. Her spokesman Robert Dillon would not say when she was planning to go to Japan, citing “security reasons.” He noted, however, that the senator would have a “pen and pad” session with reporters on Jan. 23 to discuss it further. As the top Republican on the committee, Murkowski has seized every opportunity to promote exports of Alaska’s 35 Tcf of gas to Asian markets. Murkowski raised the issue earlier in May 2012 with Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and, separately, with members of Japan’s Parliament. Japan is seeking an energy resource to replace the nuclear power generation the country shut down after 2011’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake, tsunami and emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Japan is the world’s largest importer of natural gas, followed by South Korea. The U.S. has previously supplied liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan for 40 years from ConocoPhillips’ Kenai plant in Alaska. ConocoPhillips, Exxon, BP plc and TransCanada are considering a massive project to bring gas from Alaska’s North Slope to its southern coast for transport via Asian markets, with a particular emphasis on Japan.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is planning to visit Japan “soon” to discuss with officials there natural gas exports and the state of Japan’s nuclear market.

Oil and gas drilling activity in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is returning to normal after last week’s visit by Hurricane Isaac, and workers being redeployed to offshore facilities are finding no major storm-related damage, according to the Bureau of Safety Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

August natural gas bidweek prices saw stout gains across the board except for a handful of Marcellus Shale trading points as NGI’s National Spot Gas Average came in 28 cents higher than the previous month at $3.00/MMBtu, according to Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI), which has unveiled a number of new market pricing locations with its latest monthly price survey.

Looking for ways to step on the accelerator for natural gas vehicles (NGV), Colorado and Oklahoma state officials — including the two respective governors — paid a visit to Detroit Monday to urge U.S. auto manufacturers to get behind what they are outlining as a “multi-state, bipartisan compressed natural gas (CNG) initiative” to put more vehicles on the road.

BP plc was the only one of the top five U.S. producers of natural gas that also showed up among the top five gas marketers in 2010, according to an analysis by Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) of federal filings that showed a 6% gain in trading in 2010 over 2009.