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Energy Capital Said to Seek Buyers for Stake in Summit Midstream

Energy Capital Partners is seeking seeking buyers for its interest in Summit Midstream Partners LP, a deal that would include a minority stake in the pipeline operator as well as ownership of its general partner, according to people familiar with the matter. The sale would also include some oil and gas gathering and processing operations in North Dakota, Colorado and Ohio owned by an affiliate of Summit Midstream, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Energy Capital is working with Barclays Plc to find a buyer for the assets, which could fetch at least $2 billion, one person said. If offers are too low, the firm may also consider taking the assets public. Such a listing would resemble Tallgrass Energy Partners LP’s initial public offering earlier this year of affiliate Tallgrass Energy GP, the people said. A spokesman for Barclays declined to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Imperial Cuts Spending on Existing Projects as Costs Drop

Imperial Oil Ltd. has been able to lower the amount of capital reinvestment needed to sustain the business to about C$1.2 billion ($900 million) a year from C$2 billion a year ago, helped by shrinking supplier costs. Imperial expects overall annual spending on expansion and maintenance to average about C$2.5 billion in the coming years as it reduces costs and slows expansion, Chief Executive Officer Rich Kruger said Wednesday in a webcast of the company’s annual investor day. The company is basing its operations on the current price for oil, which is helping to create a “challenging” environment for Canadian producers, Kruger said. “If prices rise, so be it,” he said, adding that the company is planning for the “long term.” Canadian oil-sands producers have cut budgets along with the sinking price for crude this year. Imperial operates bitumen mining at its Kearl site, in addition to its Cold […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Challengers Attack Canada’s Pro-Oil Harper for Stalled Pipelines

Stephen Harper’s two challengers for prime minister have regularly taken swipes at him during Canada’s election campaign for failing to get oil pipelines built. Harper, a Conservative who represents a Calgary constituency, is regarded as one of the most petroleum-friendly politicians in Canada. Therein lies the problem, according to his opponents. How to start up new pipelines is a major preoccupation for a Canadian oil industry increasingly worried about getting product to market. The troubled Keystone XL project is just one of four proposals mired in delay due to concerns over carbon emissions from the oil sands and potential spills. “He hasn’t got pipelines built. He has made the oil sands an international pariah,” Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said of Harper during a leaders debate on the economy last week that happened to be held in hard-hit Calgary. “Under Stephen Harper’s stewardship,” New Democratic Party Leader Tom Mulcair said, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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EPA hears widely different views on methane emission threat

AP Photo/Brennan Linsley DENVER (AP) — Over-regulating methane emissions could discourage the use of environment-friendly natural gas, an energy industry representative told the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday. However, a former Colorado air quality official countered that such controls would be a cost-effective way to fight climate change. The EPA heard radically different views as it opened public hearings in Denver on its proposal to slash allowable methane emissions from oil and gas production. Sessions were also scheduled in Dallas on Wednesday and in Pittsburgh on Sept. 29. The proposed rules are aimed at cutting the emissions by 40 to 45 percent by 2025 compared with 2012 levels. Methane is a key component of natural gas and a powerful greenhouse gas that traps heat in the upper atmosphere. The EPA estimates the new rule would cost industry from $320 million to $420 million annually by 2025 but would reduce […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Shale gas a common-sense energy choice, London says

British Geological Survey begins new baseline studies at potential hydraulic fracturing site just as the government aims to accelerate the industry. Photo courtesy of the BGS LONDON, Sept. 23 (UPI) — Natural gas from shale can be the energy bridge toward a greener future while at the same providing economic stimulus, the British government said. The British government estimates shale basins in the country may hold more than 1.3 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas, a level the government said could help an economy with natural gas imports on pace to increase from 45 percent of demand in 2011 to 76 percent by 2030. Andrea Leadsom, minister of state at Department of Energy and Climate, said a shale gas industry would help ensure energy security and potentially add 65,000 new jobs to the British economy. "Operators will pay communities $150,000 for each exploration well site plus 1 percent of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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TransCanada counters Clinton’s Keystone XL claims

Former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says planned Keystone XL oil pipeline runs against global moves to tackle climate change. Photo by Pete Marovich/UPI CALGARY, Alberta, Sept. 23 (UPI) — In a counter to Hillary Clinton , Keystone XL planner TransCanada said pipelines are the safest and least carbon-intensive ways to transport crude oil. Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Clinton said from the campaign trail in Iowa the planned Keystone XL pipeline from Canada would be a "distraction" to the evolving fight against climate change. "I do not think it is in the best interest of what we need to do to combat climate change," she said. The Republican-led Congress that took its seat in January said passing legislation to approve construction of Keystone XL, offered for U.S. consideration more than six years ago, was job No. 1. The pipeline has become […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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EIA: Bakken Production Declines

Bakken Rigs and Productivity Production in the Bakken Shale play decreased over the summer according to the Energy Information Administration’ s latest Drilling Productivity Report. Related: Bakken Rig Count Falls to 70 Since April, oil production in the major shale plays has decreased sharply, with total production falling by 350,000 barrels and the EIA expects that this trend will continue and for production to decline for most of the key US shales by October. On September 14th, the EIA reported that the Bakken Shale produced 1.22 MMbpd (million barrels per day) of crude oil in August, 1.40% less than the month before but 5.10% more that a year ago. The Bakken will likely see a fall and is expected to produce 1.18 MMbpd (million barrels per day) of crude oil in October. And the bad news gets worse. Recent data from FactSet suggests that producers in the shale industry […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Feds to Lease Ocean Floor Off N.J. Coast for Windmills

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)—The federal government plans to lease nearly 344,000 acres of the ocean floor off the coast of New Jersey to companies interested in building offshore windmills to generate electricity. The Interior Department and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management say that if fully developed, the leases could result in enough wind-generated electricity to power 1.2 million homes. The leases are to be sold Nov. 9. “On the heels of this summer’s historic ‘steel-in-the-water’ milestone for the nation’s first commercial offshore wind farm, today’s announcement marks another major step in standing up a sustainable offshore wind program for Atlantic coast communities,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Wednesday. In July, construction started on Deepwater Wind’s $225 million, 30-megawatt offshore wind project off Block Island in Rhode Island that will provide electricity to Block Island and Rhode Island mainland consumers. So far, 13 companies have been qualified to bid […]

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Coal mine starts continue to decline

graph of U.S. coal mine starts and total production, as explained in the article text Source: Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) Note: Reactivated mines are those mines with production reported in previous years but not in the preceding year. The number of new and reactivated coal mines that began production in 2013 fell to the lowest level in at least the past 10 years. The addition of 103 mines in 2013 came as 271 mines were idled or closed, resulting in a 14% decline in the total number of producing coal mines from 2012 to 2013. The 2013 total was 397 fewer coal mines than in 2008, when coal production was at its highest. Although preliminary 2014 data on coal production from the Mine Safety and Health Administration indicate a slight increase both in production and in new and reactivated mines for 2014, these levels will still be […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple