TEPPCO stock up after it rejects buyout offer from Enterprise Partners LP

TEPPCO Partners LP shares closed up 6.3 percent on April 29 at $27.74 after the company’s board rejected a $2.3 billion buyout offer from Enterprise Partners LP. However, TEPPCO said it would consider another offer "that appropriately recognizes the value" of the company.
TEPPCO – the initials originally stood for Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Co. - formed a special committee to review the offer after it was initially submitted last month.
In order to evaluate the offer by Enterprise, the Audit, Conflicts and Governance Committee of TEPPCO's general partner, Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Company, LLC, formed a special committee of independent directors consisting of Donald H. Daigle, Irvin Toole, Jr. and Duke R. Ligon. After considering Enterprise's offer, the special committee unanimously concluded that it did not support the offer as it now stands and had advised Enterprise of its decision. The Houston-based owner of 36,000 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines said the deal values TEPPCO at $21.89 per unit, a premium of 4.8 percent, based on the 10-day average closing prices of TEPPCO units and Enterprise common units on March 6, the business day prior to the date on which Enterprise initially made the proposal to TEPPCO, shares of which closed at $26.15 on April 28.
Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Co. LLC, general partner of TEPPCO Partners LP, is owned by Enterprise GP Holdings.

Shareowners outraged over Chesapeake CEO McLendon’s salary

HOUSTON - Shareholders are up in arms after learning that Chesapeake Energy Corp. paid Aubrey McClendon, its chairman and chief executive, $112 million in 2008.
On April 27, The Wall Street Journal reported that McClendon raked in a one-time $75 million bonus, a base salary of $975,000 and $32.7 million in stock, making it one of the richest pay packages for any corporate executive last year.
While Chesapeake and McClendon both declined to offer the Journal a comment, shareholders are more outspoken. "I have never seen a more shameful document than the Chesapeake proxy statement," wrote investor Jeffrey Bronchick in a letter to the natural gas company's board. "If I could reduce it to one page, I would frame and hang it on my office wall as a near perfect illustration of the complete collapse of appropriate corporate governance."

Texas Petrochemicals sues three for damages due to pipeline fire

HOUSTON - Texas Petrochemicals is suing three companies, claiming its pipelines were damaged when their pipelines ruptured and started a fire.
Texas Petrochemicals filed the lawsuit on April 20 in Jefferson County District Court against UCAR Pipeline Inc., Dow Chemical Company and Union Carbide Corp.
Texas Petrochemicals says an ethylene pipeline in Port Arthur owned by UCAR ruptured around 2 a.m. on Oct. 18, 2007, resulting in an uncontrolled released of
ethylene. The ruptured pipeline in Port Arthur caused an explosion and fire, the complaint states.
Later, at about 3:45 a.m., a Texas Petrochemicals pipeline ruptured and caught fire. The fire was caused by metal fatigue that occurred because of flames from the burning UCAR pipeline, according to the suit.
Another Texas Petrochemical pipeline failed at about 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 18, 2007, also due to flame impingement from other ruptured lines, Texas Petrochemical says.
After the fire, two section of UCAR pipeline were found - one about 75 feet from the blast epicenter and the other about 300 feet from the blast epicenter, according to court records.
"Both sections of piping had their external coating intact, indicating that flames did not burn it away and suggesting these two sections of piping were from the initial segment of the UCAR line that failed," the suit states. "Both sections of piping exhibited severe external corrosion."
Reports in the Port Arthur News at the time said the blast woke residents in nearby neighborhoods and led officials to issue a Shelter In Place order. No injuries were reported.
The paper reported that UCAR shut off the supply to the pipeline, but residual material in the pipes burned for four days prompting crews to flush the lines instead of waiting until they burned out on their own.

Enterprise Products and TEPPCO abandon Texas Offshore Oil Port project

HOUSTON, Texas - Enterprise GP Holdings L.P., announced on April 21 that its subsidiaries, Enterprise Products Partners L.P. and TEPPCO Partners, L.P. have exited their involvement in the Texas Offshore Port System (TOPS) partnership effective April 16. In so doing, they forfeited their investments and combined two-thirds ownership interest in the partnership.
In August 2008, affiliates of Enterprise, TEPPCO and Oiltanking Holding Americas, Inc. formed the TOPS partnership to design, construct, operate and own a Texas offshore crude oil port and pipeline system that would facilitate delivery of waterborne crude oil cargoes to refining centers located along the upper Texas Gulf Coast. The total cost of the project had been estimated at $1.8 billion, with each partner putting up $600 million.
Enterprise, TEPPCO and Oiltanking each owned, through their respective subsidiaries, a one-third interest in the joint venture.
The decision to dissociate from TOPS was the result of a disagreement with the Oiltanking partner, parent company Enterprise GP Holdings LP said in a news release.
Oiltanking has alleged in a response to the notices of dissociation that the dissociation of the affiliates of Enterprise and TEPPCO was wrongful and in breach of the TOPS partnership agreement.
As a result of the withdrawal of Enterprise and TEPPCO, consolidated net income for the parent company is expected to reflect a non-cash charge of approximately $68 million for the second quarter of 2009. The estimated loss represents the consolidated equity that Enterprise and TEPPCO held in the TOPS partnership on April 16, which primarily reflects capital contributions for construction in progress.
The TOPS project is in the preliminary stages of development. Major construction activities have not yet begun.

Marathon reduces rates at Kentucky refinery following pipeline accident

CATLETTSBERG, Ky. - Marathon Oil Corp. on April 21 announced that it reduced rates at its 226,000 b/d Catlettsberg refinery, after a leak was discovered on a crude oil pipeline that feeds the refinery.
Marathon was notified on the afternoon of April 17 of a potential leak on a 24-inch crude oil pipeline in Clark County, Ky.
Investigators on April 21 were trying to determine the cause of the minor leak in
the pipeline in the Muddy Creek area of Clark County, Ky.
"On (April 17) afternoon, we were notified of a potential release near our 24-inch pipeline. We immediately responded to the scene and a crude oil sheen… was observed in an unnamed ditch in Four Mile Creek," said Chris Fox, Marathon communications manager. "Our response team and contractors were mobilized, and were on the scene that day putting (out) absorbent boom, along with absorbent pads, that soak up whatever oil might be floating on top of the water. We have about 100 employees and contractors at the scene. They contained the sheen and continue to monitor for environmental issues that could be associated."
The pipeline involved runs from Owensboro to Catlettsburg, Ky.
"On (April 20), the pipeline was restarted and we are closely monitoring the site to determine the origin of the leak,” Fox said. “It's a very minor seep, which makes it actually more difficult to identify the source. We will continue to investigate until we determine the cause. We've been working closely with local emergency responders. We've been keeping them abreast of the situation. We do not see any cause for concern."

Russia turns increasingly beyond borders for natural gas supplies

Russia's predicted gas shortfall seems to have set in earlier than expected.
Gazprom's gas production is expected to decline to 510 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2009 from a level of 550 bcm in 2008. Gazprom as a result may be forced to limit its exports to 170 bcm in 2009, compared to 179 bcm last year.
Russia's biggest Soviet-era gas fields are past their prime. Moscow expects that through development of giant new fields, the decline in production can be made up. The fields at Bovanenkovskoye and Yamal were expected to produce their first gas by 2011, and Shtokman by 2015. But the financial crisis in the West affects fresh investments.
As a result, Central Asia's importance as a source of cheap energy has increased for Russia. Gazprom is currently buying roughly 50 bcm of gas from Turkmenistan, 15 bcm from Kazakhstan and seven bcm from Uzbekistan. Central Asian producers accounted for about 14 percent of Gazprom's total production last year.

U.S. Coast Guard in 2008 logged 90-plus oil spills a day

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In 2008, more than 33,000 petroleum spills were reported to the U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center.
Responsible for the spills are rigs, pipelines and infrastructure both on land and offshore, with the most serious health and environmental consequences coming when oil and related contaminants pollute waterways or seep into groundwater.
Pipelines and platforms accounted for more than 1,300 spills each, and storage tanks were responsible for more than 2,400 spills.
According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, a reported spill should be any "Discharges that cause a sheen or discoloration on the surface of a body of water; discharges that violate applicable water-quality standards; and discharges that cause a sludge or emulsion to be deposited beneath the surface of the water or on adjoining shorelines."
A 2002 report by the National Academies found that an average 880,000 gallons of petroleum enter North American ocean waters annually because of oil drilling and exploration each year, mainly from leaks in the Gulf of Mexico and off Southern California, northern Alaska and eastern Canada.

Atlanta's Pipeline Performance Group trains controllers from China

MARIETTA, Ga. – Marietta-based Pipeline Performance Group (PPG) has completed training 16 PetroChina controllers from the Beijing Oil and Gas Control Center.
The controllers participated in an intensive eight-week training course covering error and accident prevention, what to do if an accident does occur, basic operations, simulator training, teamwork, leadership and communication.
The course is an outgrowth of a six-month 2007 visit by former Colonial Pipeline Co. Vice President-Operations Vic Yarborough to Beijing, where he worked with PetroChina engineers and managers on design of the Lanzhou-Zhengzhou-Changsha pipeline.
In 2008, Petro China determined that its pipeline controllers would benefit from the Pipeline Operations Training Course before the LZC Pipeline was placed in operation.
PPG principal Charles Alday said of the Chinese controllers, “The participants are eager to learn everything about pipeline operations and how to apply that knowledge to better manage their own system. Their interest in safety and accident prevention is commendable, and they are doing an excellent job with their training. It is a pleasure to work with a group of young men who are enthusiastic about operational excellence.”

Colonial Pipeline announces plans to deny medical insurance to retirees

ALPHARETTA, Ga. - According to an April 16 letter from new Colonial Pipeline Co. President and CEO Tim Felt, the company will cease offering medical, dental, prescription and vision coverage to retirees on Dec. 31, 2009.
Felt said the decision applies to current retirees and to active employees who retire from Colonial in the future.
Medicare provides the bulk of the medical coverage for Colonial retirees and spouses who are eligible.
Colonial currently provides a supplement to retirees who are eligible for Medicare coverage. The supplement is designed to cover part of the cost of supplemental health and prescription drug coverage provided by carriers such as AARP. The supplement amounts to about $3,000 per year for a retired employee and spouse who are eligible for Medicare coverage.
Felt said in the letter that further details on the company’s plan will be provided in June.
During the course of their careers, most Colonial retirees were exposed to harmful toxins including tetraethyl lead, arsenic, selenium and radioactive materials. Employees encounter toxin and carcinogen exposure both during routine job performance at injection sites, pump stations and delivery points, and when required to respond to spills.
The 1990s were particularly dangerous times, with some of the company’s largest spills occurring as Colonial’s basic system, built in the 1960s, deteriorated with age. Colonial pleaded guilty to criminal charges as a result of the 1990s spills.
Colonial is taking the action despite tax credits enacted in the Bush administration in 2002 that benefit employers who provide medical plan coverage to retirees.
The Colonial decision is expected to impact most severely on surviving spouses of deceased retirees.
Colonial's revenues and income after taxes for 2008, as reported in the company's FERC Form 6, had not, as of April 20, been posted on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Web site. However, for 2007, Colonial reported revenues of $796.1 million, and after-tax income distributable to its six oil industry owners of $222.0 million.

PHMSA announces $1 million in new grants available to communities

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has announced the availability of $1,000,000 for Technical Assistance Grants to Communities.
The money is in a new program in which the grants are to "allow communities and groups of individuals to obtain funding for technical assistance in the form of engineering or other scientific analysis of pipeline safety issues and help promote public participation in official proceedings. For purposes of grants eligibility, communities are defined as cities, towns, villages, counties, parishes, townships, and similar governmental subdivisions, or consortiums of such subdivisions.
A nongovernmental group of individuals is eligible for a grant under the TAG program if its members are affected or potentially affected individuals who are, or are willing to become, incorporated as a non-profit organization in the state where they are located."
The closing date for applications is May 28, 2009.

$1.2 billion Pacific Trails pipeline to carry Canadian gas to markets in Asia

VANCOUVER, B.C. - The government of British Columbia has announced that it will work closely with Canada’s first nations to secure a direct interest in the Pacific Trail Pipelines Limited Partnership.
PTP is developing a 463-km. natural gas pipeline from Summit Lake to Kitimat costing an estimated $1.2 billion.
When completed, the pipeline will take shale gas from Horn River for export on liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers to markets in Japan, China, South Korea and elsewhere.
Both the terminal and the pipeline have received the required provincial and federal environmental assessment approvals and are now working to finalize commercial arrangements.

Pennsylvania residents object to treatment by AES

LANCASTER, Pa. - Jim and Sue Bullitt are among those who have long resisted plans to build a natural gas pipeline through their Little Britain Township neighborhood of Kirks Mill.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) conditionally approved the 88-mile AES Mid-Atlantic Express pipeline from Sparrows Point, Md., through a short stretch of Lancaster County, to a distribution center in Eagle, Chester County, in January. Then in March, FERC said it was taking another look due to widespread concerns about the project's safety and environmental impact.
Greg Culler, Little Britain supervisors chairman, said there's a "huge concern" in the township, especially about where the pipeline would actually go.
The company "hasn't really been that forthcoming," Culler said. "We're just basically being treated like a bunch of rednecks out in the country."
A map of possible route alternatives has been posted in the Little Britain Township office, 323 Green Lane, Quarryville. Jim Bullitt, a township planner, and his wife are encouraging people to become pipeline literate.
Don't fight the project, Mrs. Bullitt advises in the township's spring newsletter, because the company could turn around and seize the land by eminent domain. Instead, she wrote, negotiate, and know that pipeline builders must be sensitive to wetlands and other environmental hotspots, and to historic structures (buildings more than 50 years old).
AES has not started construction on the Mid-Atlantic Express,

U.S. steelworkers protest use of India-made pipe in Keystone project

GRANITE CITY, Ill. - Hundreds of steelworkers have protested in Illinois against the use of India-made steel in TransCanada’s Keystone oil pipeline project designed to connect Canada’s oil sands with the U.S. Midwest. The protesters demanded adoption of a “Buy American” policy by authorities.
Most such protests in the recent past have targeted steel pipe made in China. The Illinois protest was the first against pipe made in India.
The rally, which took place in Granite City, Ill., was organized by the United Steel Workers (USW) union. It attracted some 1,000 protesters in spite of near-freezing temperatures.
The slogan-shouting protesters demanded that the "Made in India" pipe be replaced with pipe manufactured in the U.S.
Organizers said the pipe made in India, destined for use in the Keystone Pipeline being built by TransCanada from the oil fields of Alberta in Canada to the Conoco-Phillips refinery in Illinois, are being unloaded from rail cars and transferred to tractor trailers at a time when some 2,000 workers at USS Steel are laid off from the adjacent steel mill.
The rally called for an end to the public policy of the past 30 years, which they alleged has led to the willful dismantling of the industrial and manufacturing base of the American economy and the loss of millions of decent, middle-class supporting jobs.
Participants at the rally demanded a new policy that emphasizes the development of new energy technologies and investment in the U.S. economy's infrastructure utilizing American-made manufactured products.
Robert Jones, the Keystone Pipeline project's vice president, said that when TransCanada solicited bids for the pipe in 2007, "it became pretty apparent that North American pipe mills weren't going to be able to fulfill our needs" because many were at capacity. Complicating matters, he said, was that only a certain number of pipe suppliers worldwide could make the high-tensile pipe required for the project.
So TransCanada contracted for about half of the pipe to come from U.S. and Canadian sources, with the rest from overseas, Jones said.

FPL announces plans for 300-mile, $1.5 billion gas pipeline

MIAMI, Fla. – FPL, Florida's largest utility, is planning a 300-mile natural gas pipeline.
The $1.5 billion pipeline will stretch from eastern Palm Beach County to Bradford County, west of St. Augustine.
Natural gas supplies 53 percent of the utility's energy. FPL says the underground pipeline would "increase the supply of clean natural gas to meet planned needs."
Construction won't begin until after a government approval process. It could be completed by 2014.
FPL spokeswoman Jackie Anderson said the project won't affect customers' bills.
TECO Energy also plans a new pipeline.

U.S. distillate prices drop below gasoline as demand plummets

NEW YORK - Prices for petroleum products could drop below the cost of the crude oil from which they're made as demand declines and supplies rise.
Prices of petroleum distillates - diesel, jet fuel and heating oil - have already dropped below those for gasoline on the wholesale market, spelling bad news for refiners already hurting from squeezed margins.
Price pressure is expected to mount with supplies building as the recession affects consumption by truckers, airlines and the farm sector.
Until recently, refiners were maximizing output because distillates were selling at a premium to gasoline.
According to some estimates, distillate stocks are running 26 percent above five-year averages.
Highway diesel retail prices, which peaked at $4.70 a gallon last summer, have fallen to $2.221 on average, down 44 percent from a year ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Sheehan employee killed in Rockies Express construction accident

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. – Funeral services were held April 5 in Baxter, Tenn., for Randy Lynn Gardner, 46, who died while working on construction of the Rockies Express Pipeline in Decatur County, Ind.
Gardner died on April 1 at an Indianapolis hospital after being crushed by a rig mat on the construction job.
An account has been set up at Fifth Third Bank In Shelbyville, in care of Shelly Davis, for those who wish to make donations on behalf of Randy Lynn Gardner.
A spokesman for the pipeline's general contractor, Sheehan Pipe Line Construction Co. of Tulsa, Okla., told The Shelbyville News that the accident occurred about eight miles northwest of Greensburg, Ind.
"This is like a loss in the family, because it is a tightly knit industry, and the loss of anyone in it is like the loss of a family member and it affects us very deeply," said Leonard Pataki, director of administration and general counsel for Sheehan. "The pipeline industry is a close-knit business. We have third-generation people working for the company. Many people knew him. It's a tragedy. From our perspective, we've lost a member of the Sheehan family."
Pataki said the last time the pipeline company experienced a fatality was in June 2007 in Utah near the Utah-Wyoming border, when a Sheehan truck driver was involved in rollover accident.
Shortly after the accident occurred in which Gardner was fatally injured, a pipeline worker called a local newspaper to express safety concerns about the project. He said there were three incidents two days before the fatal accident that could have resulted in serious injuries, and there have been other close calls before the April 1 fatality.

South Dakota PUC sets public hearings on Keystone XL oil pipeline

PIERRE, S.D. - The Public Utilities Commission will hold public hearings in April on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline that will run through western South Dakota.
TransCanada Keystone Pipeline has applied to the PUC for a permit to build the pipeline to carry syncrude oil from Canada to Texas.
The route through South Dakota would be 313 miles long and cross parts of Harding, Butte, Perkins, Meade, Pennington, Haakon, Jones, Lyman and Tripp counties.
Public input hearings are planned April 27 during the day in Winner and that evening in Philip, and on April 28 in Buffalo.

Enterprise begins service on Shenzi crude oil pipeline in Gulf of Mexico

HOUSTON - Enterprise Products Partners L.P. on April 2 announced that construction of its crude oil pipeline serving the BHP Billiton-operated Shenzi field in the Gulf of Mexico has been completed, and is now transporting production from the deepwater discovery located at Green Canyon Block 653. The 83-mile, 20-inch pipeline, which has a capacity of 230,000 b/d (of crude oil, connects to the partnership’s Ship Shoal 332B junction platform, giving Shenzi producers access to the Enterprise-operated Cameron Highway Oil Pipeline and Poseidon Oil Pipeline systems.
Enterprise owns a 50 percent interest in Cameron Highway and a 36 percent interest in Poseidon.
Located in approximately 4,300 feet of water about 120 miles off the coast of Louisiana, the Shenzi field is owned by a joint venture comprising BHP Billiton (operator), Repsol E&P USA Inc. and Hess Corp.
Through its ownership interest in the Cameron Highway and Poseidon pipelines, Enterprise will also benefit from incremental volumes of crude oil transported through those systems. Additional connection points and excess capacity that have been designed into the Shenzi pipeline will give Enterprise a competitive advantage in pursuing opportunities in the quickly developing Southern Green Canyon and Lower Tertiary plays of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Separated service line blamed for fatal Montana natural gas explosion

BOZEMAN, Mont. - As investigators work to identify the cause of the March 5 gas leak that leveled half a city block, some Bozeman business owners are questioning whether downtown is safe.
Inspectors remain unsure about what prompted a two-inch service line behind Montana Trails Gallery to separate at a coupling about 11 feet from the meter, said NorthWest Energy spokeswoman Claudia Rapkoch.
"There was a physical separation, almost like a break in the line," Rapkoch said. "This was not a pin-hole leak."
Investigators are evaluating variables such as frost and soil composition. The pipe will be sent to a metal lab agreed upon by NorthWestern and private insurers where investigators should be able to identify what prompted the separation.
Many of downtown Bozeman's steel gas lines were installed around 1930, not unusual compared to other communities across the nation, said Rick Kuprewicz, a pipeline expert and president of Accufacts Inc., an energy consulting firm in Redmond, Wash.
In the past two years in central Bozeman, at least two small natural gas leaks in Northwestern's lines have been repaired. One was in a "riser" - a piece of line extending out from the ground near the meter - behind LillyLu Children's Boutique and was repaired in the past several months. LillyLu was one of the businesses destroyed by the explosion.

Williams in Marcellus Shale joint venture with Atlas Pipeline Partners

TULSA, Okla. - Williams announced on April 1 that it will enter the Marcellus Shale through a newly formed midstream joint venture with Atlas Pipeline Partners L.P.
The new venture will own Atlas Pipeline Partners' existing Appalachian Basin gathering system, which includes approximately 1,800 miles of intrastate natural gas gathering lines servicing 6,900 wells. The system has an average throughput currently in excess of 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd). The Marcellus production growth of Atlas Energy Resources, LLC, an Atlas Pipeline Partners affiliate, has driven a 30-percent increase in the gathering system's throughput in the past year.
Williams will contribute, subject to certain post-closing adjustments, $102 million and issue a $25.5 million note payable to a newly formed joint venture, Laurel Mountain Midstream LLC, in exchange for a 51-percent ownership interest in the joint venture. In addition to its ownership interest, Williams will operate the gathering system.

Pennsylvania regulators seek more say on shale pipelines

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Since development of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation could potentially last 50 years, state regulators are seeking authority to make sure the underground pipelines carrying the natural gas are well maintained and safe.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission regulates the safety of natural gas pipelines in the state. The agency is pushing for state legislation to extend this authority over nonutility pipelines that will eventually be built throughout the Marcellus Shale, underlying a large part of Northeast and Western Pennsylvania.
While a federal pipeline safety agency was formed in the 1960s after some deadly pipeline explosions, states may also have some say in regulating the interstate lines in addition to lines existing solely within the state.
For example, state law requires that individuals or contractors notify a "one-call" center three days before excavation work to determine if natural gas pipelines are nearby. The center then notifies utilities of the pending work so they can mark the pipeline route.
Pipelines in Pennsylvania are typically made of cast iron or steel. They are subject to the freeze-and-thaw cycle of Pennsylvania winters. "We are seeing a lot of corrosion, breaking and cracking," said PUC spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher.
PUC Chairman James Cawley outlined the agency's goals last month before the House Consumer Affairs Committee. The agency is seeking authority to inspect pipelines owned by commercial natural gas producers that are outside its traditional jurisdiction over public utilities. The agency also wants to increase fines for pipeline safety violations. Enabling legislation has yet to be introduced.
Currently, the PUC's gas safety division inspects and investigates complaints concerning the utility-owned natural gas distribution lines that connect to homes and businesses. The division carried out more than 600 inspections and issued 70 safety violations in fiscal 2007-08.