Shale Daily

Spectra Energy Corp. is taking a one-third interest in the Sand Hills and Southern Hills pipelines, both of which are under construction by DCP Midstream LLC, a joint venture of Spectra and Phillips 66. The deal is expected to close by the end of November when Spectra, Phillips 66 and DCP Midstream each would own one-third of the pipelines and equally fund their completion. The aggregate investment by Spectra is expected to be $700-800 million. Sand Hills, which would take natural gas liquids from the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale to Gulf Coast markets, would have an initial capacity of 200,000 b/d and be expandable to 350,000 b/d. The first phase recently came online and connection to Mont Belvieu, TX, is expected by year-end (see Shale Daily, Oct. 29). The timing of Sand Hills’ second phase, the Permian portion of the pipeline, has advanced and is due to be in service in 2Q2013. Southern Hills would provide 150,000 b/d, expandable to 175,000 b/d, of capacity from the Midcontinent to Mont Belvieu and has a targeted in-service date of mid-2013.

Boosted by exceptional performance from horizontal drilling programs in the U.S. onshore, and in particular the Wattenberg Field in Colorado, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. broke records for liquids sales volumes in the third quarter. The Wattenberg’s production profile is “essentially straight up,” said an executive.

Hurricane Sandy appears to have posed a minimal disruption to oil and gas companies operating in the Marcellus Shale.

A Pennsylvania judge ruled that the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) had no authority to review local drilling ordinances for compliance with Act 13, a decision that could force the agency to release nearly $1 million in impact fee revenue withheld for noncompliance.

Prompted by the boom in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, a 136-year-old legal publishing firm on Monday has issued the first resource for the state’s oil and gas legal reference. Its publisher characterizes the book as a resource for landowners, lawyers, judges and producers alike.

North Dakota again set new all-time highs for oil and natural gas production, drilling permits issued and producing wells in August, according to the latest report from state Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) Director Lynn Helms. The average price for sweet crude was up, too.

For Marcellus Shale producers, the gift-receiving season begins this week and continues through the end of the year in the form of additional pipeline takeaway capacity. Multiple projects are slated to come online between Thursday and the end of the year, giving Marcellus producers increased access to markets, and presumably better prices for their gas.

A Philadelphia councilman wants Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), which is the nation’s largest municipally owned natural gas utility, to use natural gas produced in the Marcellus Shale instead of Gulf of Mexico (GOM) gas received via pipeline.

A record percentage of New Yorkers now support hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and opposition to the practice fell to a low point in October, according to figures from a Siena College Research Institute poll released Friday.