| | | | | | | | | |

15 Biggest Natural Gas Pipeline Companies in the World

Here’s a question: What are the 15 biggest (by company revenue) natural gas-owning pipeline companies in the world? The U.S. has the biggest natural gas pipeline infrastructure in the world, covering a distance of 333,000 kilometers (206,917 miles). Even so, only one U.S.-based company is in the top 5 biggest pipeline companies. Can you guess which country takes the top 2 spots on the list?
Continue reading

| | | | |

EQT Deal Sends “Responsible” M-U Gas to Canada’s Largest Gas Utility

EQT Corporation, the largest producer of natural gas in the U.S, has cut a deal to send 15 petajoules (PJ) of RSG (responsibly sourced gas) from the Marcellus/Utica to Canada’s largest natural gas distribution company, Enbridge Gas, over the next 12 months. This is a major deal. Running the numbers, 15 petajoules works out to be roughly 14 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of Marcellus/Utica gas.
Continue reading

| | | | |

Ohio Drillers Say They are Ready to “Unleash American Energy”

Yesterday, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce held its “Energy Supply Chain: Present & Future” conference at the Ohio Statehouse Atrium in Columbus. Participants and speakers included oil and natural gas producers, pipeline operators, policymakers, renewable companies, and more. Questions largely centered on the energy transition and how various resources fit into a so-called sustainable future. The upshot was that Ohio’s natural gas (mostly Utica, some Marcellus) is front and center as a driving force for Ohio energy, and the Ohio economy.
Continue reading

| | | | | |

NTSB Issues Final Report on 2019 Kentucky TETCO Pipe Explosion

2019 TETCO Pipeline explosion/fire in Kentucky

On August 1, 2019, one of three Texas Eastern Pipeline Company (TETCO) pipelines exploded in Lincoln County, Kentucky, killing one, sending six to the hospital, destroying four homes, and damaging 14 other homes (see TETCO Pipe Explodes in Kentucky Killing 1; Southbound M-U Gas Stops). TETCO’s pipelines are a major conduit for Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast, and for a time, all flows heading south on TETCO stopped. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) both investigated the accident. The NTSB recently issued a final report identifying several factors that contributed to the explosion and fire.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | |

DC Circuit Rules NEXUS Pipeline Approval by FERC was Righteous

Last year Big Green lobbyists using the City of Oberlin, Ohio contested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decision to approve the Enbridge/DTE Energy NEXUS pipeline, a $2 billion, 255-mile pipeline from the Ohio Utica Shale into Michigan that’s been flowing for years connecting to a pipeline that exports some of the gas into Canada (see Oberlin, OH Still Fighting to Shut Down Long-Running NEXUS Pipe). Big Green/Oberlin claimed FERC’s approval of NEXUS was faulty because some gas gets exported to Canada and is not “in the public interest.” A federal court ruled last week against Oberlin, siding with FERC’s decision to approve the NEXUS project.
Continue reading

| | | |

Enbridge Gets Serious About New TN Pipe to Feed TVA Power Plant

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally-owned electric utility corporation in the U.S. TVA’s service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. TVA is the sixth-largest power supplier and the largest public utility in the country. One year ago MDN told you that TVA is spending over $1 billion to replace six coal-fired plants with natgas-fired turbines (see TVA Investing $1B to Build New Natgas-Fired Electric Plants). Enbridge has plans to build a natural gas pipeline across Tennessee to get gas to one of TVA’s planned power plants.
Continue reading

| | |

Enbridge Announces $100M TETCO Pipe Expansion in Marcellus/Utica

As part of its fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 update, Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge (with huge assets in the U.S., including in the Marcellus/Utica) announced it is spending $400 million to expand capacity on its Texas Eastern Pipeline Company (TETCO) system. Enbridge will also spend an additional $100 million on TETCO for the newly-announced Appalachia to Market Phase II expansion. That’s half a billion dollars on TETCO spending beginning this year. TETCO currently flows roughly 1.9 Bcf/d of Marcellus/Utica molecules with the power to influence gas prices (see TETCO Pipeline Restart Boosts M-U NatGas Cash Prices).
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | |

DC Circuit Signals NEXUS Pipe Approval by FERC was Righteous

Last year Big Green lobbyists using the City of Oberlin, Ohio contested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decision to approve the Enbridge/DTE Energy NEXUS pipeline, a a $2 billion, 255-mile pipeline from the Ohio Utica Shale into Michigan that’s been flowing for years connecting to a pipeline that exports some of the gas into Canada (see Oberlin, OH Still Fighting to Shut Down Long-Running NEXUS Pipe). Big Green/Oberlin claims FERC’s approval of NEXUS was faulty because some gas gets exported to Canada and is not “in the public interest.”
Continue reading

| | | | |

Victory! FERC Won’t Shut Down Weymouth, MA Compressor Station

New England–Massachusetts and Maine in particular–dodged a major bullet on Thursday when Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners voted 5-0 to NOT overturn a permit for the already up-and-running compressor station in Weymouth, Mass. The Weymouth compressor station was the final piece of the $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project that was years in the making. The compressor went online in January 2021 (see Weymouth, MA Compressor Station Now Online – Will it Stay Online?). Radicalized anti-fossil fuelers fought to close it down. They lost–we won.
Continue reading

| | | |

FERC to Decide Fate of Operational Weymouth Compressor Thursday

The Weymouth gas compressor station by the Fore River. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

This Thursday the five commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will engage in something that is, in our humble opinion, illegal. They will conduct a hearing to discuss whether or not to shut down a fully (and safely) functioning compressor station in Weymouth, Massachusetts that was approved and built during the Trump administration and went online in January 2021 just as power was handed over to the Bidenistas. No country can last if a new administration revisits and overturns regulatory decisions made in previous administrations simply because they don’t like the politics of that administration. It is manifestly unfair and unjust.
Continue reading

| | | | | |

Texas Eastern Pipe Force Majeure in PA Ends in Time for Winter Storm

TETCO assets in PA showing Entriken compressor location (click for larger version)

On January 4, Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline declared a force majeure reducing flows along the pipeline due to an unplanned outage at the Entriken (PA) compressor station in Huntingdon County. A day later, on January 5, TETCO lifted the force majeure after fixing the problems at Entriken. Whew. Just in time. There’s a major winter storm heading into parts of PA and New Jersey, where TETCO delivers its gas.
Continue reading

| | | | |

MA Court Rejects Appeal to Cancel Permit for Weymouth Compressor

In November 2020 the town of Weymouth, Massachusetts dropped a legal fight to block an Enbridge compressor station under construction in the town (see Weymouth, MA Drops Opposition to Compressor in Return for $38M). The price to get the town to shut up was an initial $10 million lump-sum payment (due within 30 days) followed by $28 million more in property taxes over the next 35 years, for a total price tag of $38 million smackeroos. However, leftist wackos who truly believe this plant will cause man-made global warming didn’t get the memo. A group of wackos co-filed with the town to appeal a state permit allowing the plant to get built. A three-judge panel ruled last week the wackos don’t have standing to appeal a state agency approval of the compressor project.
Continue reading

| | |

Enbridge Open Season to Transport NatGas to Dawn Hub

Enbridge Gas is holding a binding open season for C1 (methane) transportation services from St. Clair (DTE) and/or Bluewater to the Dawn Hub in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) starting Nov. 1, 2023 for a minimum of five years. Shippers seeking access to a reliable, cost-effective means to move gas from St. Clair (DTE) and/or Bluewater to Dawn can submit bids for up to 62,000 GJ/d of annual capacity (12-month term) and up to 107,000 GJ/d capacity for winter only (5-month term). Marcellus/Utica gas is eligible since it finds its way all the way to the Dawn Hub.
Continue reading

| | | | |

TETCO Pipeline Restart Boosts M-U NatGas Cash Prices

In June MDN brought you the news that Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline was being flow-restricted by the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA). Some 40% of the Marcellus/Utica molecules that flow through TETCO’s pipeline to destinations in the southeastern U.S. disappeared and were predicted to stay that way until the end of September (see TETCO Pipe Throttling 40% of M-U Southbound Gas to Last All Summer). However, Enbridge and PHMSA concluded their investigation early and the pipeline returned to full pressure in early August, some two months ahead of schedule (see TETCO Pipeline Returns to Full Pressure This Week – 2 Mo. Early). With TETCO back to full strength and with gas storage down this summer, the price of natural gas at various trading hubs around the M-U is high and staying high.
Continue reading

| | | |

TETCO Pipeline Returns to Full Pressure This Week – 2 Mo. Early

In June MDN brought you the news that Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline is being flow-restricted by the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA). Some 40% of the Marcellus/Utica molecules that flow through TETCO’s pipeline to destinations in the southeastern U.S. disappeared and were predicted to stay that way until the end of September (see TETCO Pipe Throttling 40% of M-U Southbound Gas to Last All Summer). Fantastic news! PHMSA last week gave permission to Enbridge to boost pressure back to 100% again, beginning this week.
Continue reading

| | | |

TETCO Pipeline Ready to Restore Full Pressure Any Time

In June MDN brought you the news that Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline is being flow-restricted by the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA). Some 40% of the Marcellus/Utica molecules that flow through TETCO’s pipeline to destinations in the southeastern U.S. have disappeared and were predicted to stay that way until the end of September (see TETCO Pipe Throttling 40% of M-U Southbound Gas to Last All Summer). Good news: TETCO is telling customers it’s ready to increase pressure and flows the second PHMSA gives the OK, and there’s no remaining issues to be resolved. A ramp-up to full pressure could come soon–in July or August instead of September.
Continue reading