January 2010 Vol. 237 No. 1

Advertisers in the print edition of Pipeline & Gas Journal, January 2010 Vol. 237 No. 1.

MichCon Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of DTE Energy, has completed its sale of natural gas gathering and treating assets to DCP Midstream Partners LP. The assets are in northern Michigan and provide gas gathering and treating services for gas produced in the Antrim shale formation. The price was $45.1 million.

ConocoPhillips reports that Larry E. Archibald, vice president, Exploration, will become senior vice president, Exploration and Business Development. He will assume additional responsibilities for E&P global business development and will join the CP management committee.

According to a study by Microsoft and Accenture released Jan. 21, nearly 75% of oil and gas professionals see value in using social media and collaboration tools at work — an 83 percent jump from responses in last year’s similar poll.

There are two takes on ExxonMobil’s $31 billion or $41 billion takeover of XTO Energy. One is an obvious Wall Street bias in terms of immediate results, while the other analyzes the long-term aspects.

The internal combustion engine (ICE) fueled by natural gas has moved in the direction of efficiency and environmental friendliness with lean-burn technology. Cameron’s AJAX®LE uses a CleanBurn™ prechamber type of combustion system that allows for operation with very stable combustion at lean air fuel mixtures.

The number of compressors installed in each compressor station of a pipeline system has a significant impact on the availability, fuel consumption and capacity of the system. Depending on the load profile of the pipeline, the answers may look different for different applications.

Starting a new horizontal directional drilling company in the current economic conditions can be challenging, but John Dagenhart has seen the ups and downs of this industry during his 18-year career in the trenchless industry and is using this experience to help guide his newly formed company.

Since the Houston Technology Center (HTC) opened for business ten years ago, it has pushed dozens of companies through its client program. In 2007 HTC President Walter Ulrich cited the HTC’s impact on the Houston-area economy as $225 million a year.

From Copenhagen to the U.S. Congress, policymakers are deeply engaged on climate change and looking for innovative solutions to advance a low-carbon future. Not enough of the conversation has focused on the vast opportunity found right here in North America in clean, abundant natural gas.

It only seems like a short time ago that oil prices were over $100 a barrel, natural gas prices in the U.S. and UK were high, spot LNG cargoes into the Far East were priced at over $20 per MMBtu and experts in the energy industry were mainly concerned about whether the world could afford the high prices.

One of the most critical, yet overlooked, aspects to any pipeline construction project involves moving the thousands of tons of finished pipe from the steel mills to the construction site.

Algae – black, slimy, and obnoxious – just may be the next black gold of energy products, especially for liquid fuels! While other agriculture products have gotten a head start as possible replacements for crude oil, the best candidate currently is one of the lowest forms in the plant kingdom, algae.

Worries about potential escalating demand for natural gas from electric utilities and industrials forced to switch fuels because of climate change legislation from Congress was the major factor behind the FERC natural gas infrastructure workshop Nov. 21.

FERC's gas infrastructure conference on Nov. 21 touched on LNG pricing and terminal construction, but never got into the political issues which are likely to bear on FERC’s approval of new LNG terminals.

Wood Group’s Alliance Engineering announced Jan. 12 that it has been awarded a contract to provide engineering, design and procurement support services for part of the Gulfstream Natural Gas System in Florida.

Work is under way to build a natural gas pipeline to connect two areas near the Straits of Magellan in southern Argentina, according to the country’s gas regulator, Enargas.

Bisso Marine has achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification of its Quality Management System after being assessed by ABS Quality Evaluations, Inc.

Bredero Shaw received a contract in excess of US$40 million from Marubeni-Itochu to provide pipeline coatings for Epic Energy’s QSN3 Pipeline Project.

On Dec. 14, the presidents of China, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan launched the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline.

China's Shaanxi province plans to build a 53-mile coalbed methane pipeline from Hancheng to Chengcheng. The plan has been approved with a designed capacity of 450 MMcm/d and maximum handling capacity of 750 MMcm/d.

CRC-Evans Automatic Welding is providing equipment for a gas pipeline project under way in France and scheduled for completion shortly.

Denali announced Jan. 12 that it will start its open season process in April, 2010.

Denbury Resources and Wapiti Energy have entered into an agreement to purchase a 95% working interest in the Conroe Field.

To meet the rising demand from the oil and gas, petrochemical and other industries, EagleBurgmann Saudi Arabia Ltd. has expanded its production capacity in the region.

EDF CEO Henri Proglio has signed a Memorandum of Understanding about participating in the construction of the offshore section of the South Stream pipeline.

Enbridge Inc. completed a binding open season for its LaCrosse pipeline designed to transport natural gas from Carthage, TX to multiple delivery points in southeastern Louisiana.

U.S. Senator Max Baucus announced Jan. 14 that five energy companies have agreed to relinquish oil and gas leases on nearly 29,000 acres in Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front adjacent to Glacier National Park.

FERC has approved Florida Gas Transmission Company's $2.45 billion Phase VIII natural gas pipeline expansion project, which will transport gas to power plants throughout the Sunshine State.

FERC has issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Port Dolphin Energy LLC to build and operate an onshore pipeline to connect to its deepwater LNG port planned off the west coast of Florida.

Finland and Sweden gave Nord Stream, the Gazprom-led consortium, permission to lay the pipeline through their respective economic zones on the Baltic seabed, on an approved route from Russia to Germany.

Regency Energy Partners, GE Energy Financial Services and Alinda Capital Partners announced Jan. 27 that their joint ventures the Haynesville Expansion Project and Red River Lateral are in service.

The offer to join the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline still stands for India although Iran said it cannot wait indefinitely because the structure of the project could still change.

Inergy Midstream has executed a definitive agreement to purchase the Seneca Lake natural gas storage facility and two related pipelines for approximately $65 million.

Iroquois Gas Transmission System L.P. recently held a non-binding open season that ends Jan. 29 for its NYMarc project proposed to connect rapidly expanding Marcellus gas supplies to New York, New England and eastern Canadian gas markets.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. announced Jan. 27 that it has signed an agreement to acquire four terminals from Slay Industries for approximately $98 million.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP) and Copano Energy L.L.C. have entered into a letter of intent for a 50/50 joint venture to provide gathering, transportation and processing services to natural gas producers in the Eagle Ford Shale resource play in South Texas.

The Houston Chronicle reported January 11 that McMoRan Exploration Co. and Energy XXI have announced initial readings suggesting one of the largest oil and natural gas discoveries in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico in decades.

Millennium Pipeline Company, LLC has announced a binding open season beginning Jan. 25 for shippers seeking firm transportation capacity commencing November 1, 2013 to support system mainline expansions.

MoBay Storage Hub, LLC, launched an open season for up to 8.0 Bcf of firm natural gas storage service Jan. 7. Bids are due by 5 p.m. CST on Feb. 2.

Nico International has secured an EPC contract from the Fujairah Refinery Company Ltd. for work on the Oil Terminal 2 Connection project, located in the Port of Fujairah, near the eastern seaboard of the United Arab Emirates.

Oceaneering International Inc. has commissioned construction of a dive support vessel (DSV) with an estimated cost of $17 million.

Houston-based InterOil Corp. announced Dec. 10 that the National Executive Council (NEC) of Papua New Guinea approved plans for construction of an LNG plant.

Pemex has awarded Mexico-based Caro Infraestructura y Construccion a $US32 million contract to build a 9-mile slurry pipeline connecting the Bateria Samaria II gas complex in the southeastern state of Tabasco.

Turkmengaz has awarded Petrofac International a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for its South Yoloten gas field, located 250 miles southeast of Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabat.

AB Resources has teamed with Caiman Eastern Midstream, LLC to build and operate midstream pipelines and facilities within AB Resources’ acreage in the Marcellus Fairway – a gas-productive formation spread across Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

An indirect wholly owned pipeline subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy and NextEra US Gas Assets have signed a joint development agreement to explore construction of a pipeline in north Louisiana to transport natural gas from the Haynesville Shale area.

Regency Energy Partners plans to construct Phase II of its Logansport Gathering system in north Louisiana.

Spectra Energy Corp.'s Texas Eastern Transmission, LP announced a binding open season for TEAM 2012, a proposed expansion to deliver additional Appalachian and Marcellus Shale natural gas supplies to premium markets in the Northeast.

Pictometry®, according to its provider, is the innovative technology that changed the face of public safety less than 10 years ago and is today becoming the new and “disruptive” technology for the pipeline industry.

A global training and consulting firm, ek pass, announced Jan. 7 that it has been commissioned to perform hoisting and lifting operation audits on a major project for TransCanada Pipelines.

Driver Pipeline, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has opened its fifth regional field office in Waskom, Texas, approximately 15 miles from Shreveport, Louisiana.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. announced Jan. 12 that Mark A. Hurley has been named senior vice president of the partnership’s Crude Oil & Offshore business unit and will officially assume his new duties March 1, 2010.

Honeywell announced Jan. 13 that it has acquired rights to technology developed by Shell for gathering field data, intended to help industrial plants to safely increase production while reducing maintenance and operating costs.

Lloyd’s Register North America, Inc. has appointed James Benjamin as vice president of Business Development for its energy business in the Americas.

MATCOR®, Inc., a leading cathodic protection and corrosion prevention engineering design firm, has announced the appointment of Jeffrey Stello as president and CEO. Stello assumes the responsibilities held for nearly 35 years by founder William Schutt, who will continue with the company as chairman.

Although the Marcellus Shale and other shale natural gas basins in the United States have proved to hold huge quantities of potential energy, the hydraulic fracturing methods used to retrieve gas from 6,000 feet below ground level have excited controversy due to their costs in water resources and pollution.

Invensys Operations Management announced the launch of a new corporate website on Jan. 21.

New products from E.H. Wachs; Reynolds-French & Company; Lincoln Electric; Veris, Inc.; Synthotech Limited; PFERD Inc.; Phoenix Contact; R&M Energy Systems; Dresser-Rand; Highfield Manufacturing Company; MEA And Heath Consultants; New Century Software and Quorum Business Solutions, Inc.