Daily News Energy Headlines for September 2, 2015

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News highlights gathered by Industrial Info and IIR Energy (Sugar Land, Texas) over the past week.

CRUDE OIL
U.S. Crude Oil Inventories Rise - The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that U.S. crude oil inventories rose 4.7 million barrels to 455.4 million for the week ending August 28, as refinery throughput declined and imports rose 656,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) to 7.4 million BBL/d.

PRODUCTION
Nexen to Shut Down Oil Sands Unit - Nexen Energy, the Canadian unit of China's CNOOC Limited (NYSE:CEO), says that it will shut down its 72,000-BBL/d oil sands production and upgrading unit in Alberta.

PIPELINES
Williams Completes Transco Virginia Southside Expansion - Williams Companies Incorporated (NYSE:WMB) (Tulsa, Oklahoma) has announced that it has completed the $300 million Virginia Southside Expansion of the Transco natural gas pipeline system, which consists of about 100 miles of pipeline from the Transco mainline in Pittsylvania County to Brunswick County in Virginia.

NATURAL GAS
TransCanada Reclassifies Natural Gas - The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has allowed TransCanada Corporation (NYSE:TRP) (Calgary, Alberta) to reclassify 1.1 billion cubic feet of the company's natural gas from "base gas" needed to maintain operational pressure to "working gas," which can be burned at any time.

OTHER NEWS
European Regulators Clear Shell's Acquisition of BG Group - European Union regulators approved Royal Dutch Shell plc's (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands) acquisition of BG Group plc (Reading, England). The U.S. has also approved the acquisition, but the deal cannot go through without approval from authorities in China and Australia.

Obama Wins Key Vote to Protect Iran Nuclear Deal - President Obama secured a 34th vote in the Senate backing a nuclear agreement with Iran, meaning that the deal easing sanctions in exchange for a curtailment of Iran's nuclear program will not fail in the U.S. Congress.

Investors See Opportunities in Oil & Gas Market as Big Players Adjust to New Reality - The Oil & Gas Industry overindulged--again--in the run-up to the crude-oil price collapse that started last summer, and that is creating opportunities for private equity firms and others as the industry is faced with the need to reduce debt, restructure loans, sell assets, and restore its collective balance sheet, speakers here told the 27th Annual Rocky Mountain Energy Summit, held in Denver last week.

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Energy asset information on power plants, oil refineries and natural gas infrastructure is now more important than ever. A unit of Industrial Info Resources IIR Energy provides infrastructure information on these assets, as well as real-time tracking of planned and unplanned interruptions affecting the trading, logistics and marketing communities. We are the number one source for information about electricity outages, refinery turnarounds and midstream natural gas disruptions.

About Industrial Info
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.