Four Bears Pipeline means fewer trucks, more oil moving to market

WATFORD CITY, N.D. - Senator John Hoeven said that the Four Bears Pipeline is a key addition to the state’s oil transportation infrastructure. He joined state and local officials and industry leaders at an open house on Jan. 20 celebrating the 77-mile Four Bears Pipeline, which is designed to move up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day (b/d) through Dunn and McKenzie counties to existing pipeline infrastructure near Belfield.

"This Four Bears Pipeline is an efficient means of moving Bakken sweet crude from North Dakota to market, and transporting more Bakken oil is good for western North Dakota, our state and nation. We've worked hard to make it possible for important infrastructure like this to be constructed," Hoeven said.

The Four Bears Pipeline is expected to remove the need for more than 300 truck trips down Highway 85 and Highway 22, which translates into 30,000 miles per day off these congested corridors. It now delivers crude oil to the Butte pipeline at Baker, Mont., and the Bakken Oil Express rail terminal near Dickinson. In the future, Four Bears will deliver oil to the Belle Fourche pipeline and the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which, once constructed, will have the capacity to deliver 830,000 b/d, including 100,000 b/d from the Bakken region.

The Four Bears Pipeline is operated by Bridger Pipeline, LLC. Bridger and Belle Fourche pipelines are a part of the True companies of Casper, Wyo., operating more than 3,400 miles of pipeline systems in western North Dakota, eastern Montana and Wyoming.

Higher spending on lobbying failed to prevent delay of Keystone XL project

WASHINGTON - TransCanada, the pipeline company pushing the recently rejected Keystone XL project, spent $410,000 on federal lobbying during the last three months of 2011, a new quarterly high for the company.

The total is $20,000 more than TransCanada spent in the previous quarter and nearly double the $220,000 it spent in the second quarter of 2011. Altogether, the company paid $1.33 million on lobbying in D.C. last year.

TransCanada was seeking State Department approval of the proposed 1,702-mile-long Keystone XL pipeline. The $7 billion project will connect Canadian tar sands deposits to Texas refineries.

Koch Bros. help fund attack on Obama's rejection of Keystone XL Pipeline

Americans for Prosperity, the conservative group partly funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, on Jan. 18 slammed President Barack Obama for rejecting the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

"We will continue to support private industry and job growth, even as the President blocks efforts like the Keystone pipeline that would create good paying private sector jobs and help our economy recover," the group said.

"Unfortunately, President Obama's idea of job growth is increasing unemployment benefits, which does little other than keep unemployment high while causing our national debt to skyrocket."

Caballo Energy acquires Eagle Chief Midstream, LLC

TULSA, Okla. - Caballo Energy, LLC announced on Jan. 18 that it has acquired Eagle Chief Midstream, LLC, which owns a natural gas gathering and processing system in northwestern Oklahoma.

The Eagle Chief assets are strategically located at the intersection of the liquids-rich Mississippi Lime and Cana Woodford Shale plays. Eagle Chief is connected to more than 370 wells and serves 25 producers.

The Eagle Chief system includes more than 600 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines, compression and processing assets located in Alfalfa, Blaine, Garfield, Major and Woods Counties.

In early 2013, the company will install a new cryogenic plant, bringing total natural gas processing capacity to approximately 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d).

Caballo delivers processed gas to ONEOK Gas Transportation and Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line. Natural gas liquids are delivered to ONEOK NGL Pipeline. The Eagle Chief system also includes salt water disposal and crude oil gathering systems.

Caballo Energy is backed by private equity commitments from EnCap Flatrock Midstream of San Antonio.

"The Mississippi Lime and Cana Woodford Shale are two of the most exciting plays in the country," said Dennis Jaggi, one of EnCap Flatrock Midstream's three managing partners and a member of Caballo Energy's board of managers.

Spectra Energy secures two shippers for Texas Eastern expansion

HOUSTON, Texas - Spectra Energy Corp.'s Texas Eastern Transmission, LP on Jan. 17 announced it has reached binding agreements with two anchor shippers for its TEAM 2014 project, an expansion of its existing Texas Eastern system to deliver additional emerging Appalachian shale natural gas supplies to diverse markets in the Northeast, Midwest and Southern U.S.

The commitments provide sufficient market support to proceed with the development of the TEAM 2014 project. Texas Eastern will solicit interest from additional shippers through a binding open season that began on Jan. 17 and will end Feb. 17.

TEAM 2014, with an estimated fourth quarter 2014 in-service date, reflects a fully scalable capacity expansion of up to 1.4 billion cubic feet per day, including the volume of the two anchor shippers. Because Texas Eastern is expanding its existing pipeline system, the expansion project can be sized to meet the needs of the two anchor shippers as well as additional shippers that may be identified during the binding open season.

The company currently estimates the expansion will result in a capital investment of approximately $500 million, which could potentially increase based on the results of the open season.

Interested shippers will have the opportunity to nominate transportation services from multiple existing and proposed receipt points in West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania to multiple delivery points across the Northeast, Midwest and Southeast U.S. markets.