Energy Transfer to build Tiger gas pipeline through Haynesville Shale

HOUSTON - Energy Transfer Partners LP said on Jan. 27 that it will build a 178-mile, 42-inch interstate natural gas pipeline from Texas to Louisiana through the heart of the Haynesville Shale.
The Tiger Pipeline is expected to cost between $1 and $1.2 billion to construct, depending upon final throughput capacity design, with costs incurred over a three-year period, the company said in a news release.
Initial capacity of at least 1.25 billion cubic feet per day may be increased up to two bcf per day based on the results of an open season, the company said.
Energy Transfer agreed to a 15-year firm transportation pact with Chesapeake Energy Corp unit Chesapeake Energy Marketing Inc. for approximately one bcf per day of capacity.
The project will connect to ETP's pipeline system near Carthage, Texas, extend through the Haynesville Shale and end near Delhi, La., interconnecting to at least seven interstate pipelines at various points in Louisiana.

Keystone XL seeks U.S. waiver to allow higher pressure on line

HELENA, Mont. - Developers of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that will transport Canadian crude oil destined for Gulf Coast refineries are seeking an
increase in the federal limit on pressure within the pipeline. The developers say the higher limit would optimize the flow of oil.
TransCanada Keystone Pipeline of Calgary, Alta., wants to draw on up to 80 percent of the pipeline wall's strength, rather than the maximum 72 percent specified in federal regulations. The higher limit would involve certain pipe specifications and extensive testing, said Jeff Rauh, project representative for Keystone XL.
Notice of the request appeared in the Federal Register. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which includes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, is accepting public comment on the proposal until Feb. 23.
The nearly 2,000-mile Keystone XL project with a pipeline 36 inches in diameter would start at Hardisty, Alta., enter the United States near Montana's Port of Morgan, pass through eastern Montana, continue through South Dakota and end near the Nebraska-Kansas border. There it would connect to a pipeline that is set for construction in 2010 and would end at Cushing, Okla. A proposed pipeline from Cushing would go through Texas, to the Gulf Coast.
A permit from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality is among requirements for building and operating the pipeline in Montana, where it would cross private, federal and state land. The state agency is taking public comment through March 6 and plans to join the federal government in preparing an environmental impact statement, the draft of which would be examined in public hearings.

Chevron settles Texas pipeline lawsuit filed in 2002

LUFKIN, Texas - Nearly 200 Angelina County property owners and a major oil company have reached a settlement in a property damage and wrongful death lawsuit filed six years ago over alleged complications caused by a 70-year-old
leaky pipeline running through Lufkin.
"We've settled the case," said Kirk Mathis, an attorney for Chandler Law
Offices, which filed the suit.
Property owners alleged in 2002 that Chevron Pipeline Company failed to fix a crude oil pipeline that allegedly leaked for years, causing property damage and in some cases severe health complications for residents, including a rare form of leukemia. Mathis said a large majority of the owners who filed suit had alleged property damages. Only a few had made allegations of health complications or even death as a result of the pipeline, he said.
The amount Chevron paid out to each owner is not being publicly disclosed, nor are any details about the suit, which are part of a confidentiality agreement signed by all parties involved in the settlement.
While the agreement with Chevron was reached at the end of last year, Mathis said he is in the process of drafting up a court motion to have the case formally dismissed.
Chevron Pipeline Company spokesman Mickey Driver said he could not comment on the settlement agreement. Chevron Pipeline, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corp., is headquartered in Houston.

Colonial Pipeline fine to buy new park for Greenville County, S.C.

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Millions of dollars in settlement money from a major oil spill in the Reedy River more than a decade ago will help fund an expansive new park along the river in the southern part of Greenville County, officials announced on Jan. 23.
The county will use $2.7 million set aside in the South Carolina Mitigation Trust Fund supplied from the Colonial Pipeline Company’s $7 million fine levied in 1999.
The money will go to buy 87 acres at the historic Cedar Falls area and another 17.5 acres at New Harrison Bridge Road where the river widens downstream and courses through picturesque rural landscapes, state Rep. Eric Bedingfield said during a ceremony above Cedar Falls.
The project will provide for nature trails, picnic areas and recreational access to the river from a site known for its historic dam that provided electricity to the Fork Shoals mill, a school and a doctor’s office.
Most of 2009 will be spent planning the development, but work will begin in time for an expected completion in spring 2010, said Gene Smith, the county recreation district’s executive director.

Arkla Energy pipeline crosses new fault line discovered in Arkansas

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A previously unknown fault in eastern Arkansas could trigger a magnitude 7 earthquake with an epicenter near a major natural gas pipeline, a scientist said on Jan. 21. Haydar Al-Shukri, the director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said the fault is separate from the New Madrid fault responsible for a series of quakes in 1811-12 that caused the Mississippi River to flow backward. The new fault lies west of Marianna, Ark., about 100 miles east of Little Rock, but stretches of fine sand mixed with fertile soil gave away the fault's location, Al-Shukri said. Liquefied sand bubbled up through cracks in the earth, while ground radar and digs showed vents that let the sand reach the surface, he said. The fault, likely created in the last 5,000 years, sparked at least one magnitude 7 earthquake in its history. Such temblors cause massive destruction in their wake.

Enbridge says still committed to syncrude pipeline to Gulf Coast

HOUSTON - Enbridge Inc. says it is still committed to pipeline projects that will bring oil to Texas, the company said on Jan. 20.
Enbridge spokeswoman Jennifer Varey told the Houston Business Journal that Calgary-based Enbridge’s joint-venture plans with BP Pipelines (North America) Inc. to construct a pipeline extension to ship tar sands oil from Illinois to BP’s Texas City refinery - possibly connecting to other area refineries and pipeline systems - is still on track for startup in 2012 with initial capacity of 250,000 b/d. Total cost of the project is between $1 billion and $2 billion.
The third portion of the Gulf Coast strategy, dubbed the Texas Access Pipeline, is also still proceeding after being delayed from 2011 to 2014, Varey said.

El Paso Natural Gas, Navajo Nation settle right of way suit for $350 million

A years-long fight between the Navajo Nation and El Paso Natural Gas Co. over a pipeline right of way easement has been settled with a deal that will pay the tribe about $350 million over 20 years.
That's more than 10 times what the previous lease brought in for the tribe, which battled fiercely for higher payments when it expired in 2005. The tribe and the Houston-based company reached an agreement on the economic terms of a lease last year, but jurisdictional issues remained a sticking point, said Arvin Trujillo, director of the tribes Division of Natural Resources.
The Tribal Council's Resources Committee finally approved the agreement earlier this month. It still must go before the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, but Trujillo called that a formality.
Under the agreement, El Paso, which operates 900 miles of pipeline on the reservation, will pay the tribe $18 million a year for the lease that expires in 2025. The previous lease signed in the mid-1980s was valued at $29 million.
"We're wanting to continue our relationship with El Paso," Trujillo said. "We did go through some very difficult negotiations at different points and times. Positions were made but, again, it's part of the process."