Energy News Briefs for the Third Week of July

---

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

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Marathon Enters Gas Processing with MarkWest Acquisition - Refiner Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) (Findlay, Ohio) will enter the natural gas processing sector with its acquisition of MarkWest Energy Partners LP (NYSE:MWE) (Denver, Colorado) for approximately $15.6 billion. Marathon is making the purchase through its pipeline unit, MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX) (Findlay).

Genesis Energy to Purchase Enterprise's Gulf of Mexico Pipelines - Genesis Energy LP (NYSE:GEL) (Houston, Texas) says that it will purchase Enterprise Products Partners LP's (NYSE:EPD) (Houston, Texas) Gulf of Mexico pipelines and services business for about $1.5 billion. The assets includes Enterprise's stakes in nine crude oil pipelines and nine natural gas pipelines.

Acquisition Puts WPX in Permian - WPX Energy Incorporated's (NYSE:WPX) (Tulsa, Oklahoma) agreement to purchase privately held RKI Exploration & Production LLC (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) for $2.35 billion gives WPX access to about 92,000 in the Delaware Basin in the Permian.

OIL & GAS PRODUCTION
EIA: U.S. Shale Oil Production to Continue Decline - The U.S. Energy Information Administration's Drilling Productivity Report, released July 13, forecasts that in August oil production from the seven major shale formations covered by the agency will decline by 91,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) to 5.4 million BBL/d, the lowest output since November 2014.

North Dakota Oil Production Rises in May - North Dakota state regulators reported that oil production in the state rose 3% in May to slightly more than 1.2 million BBL/d.

Western Canadian Oil Sands Industry Reels from Collapse of Crude-Oil Prices - The collapse of crude-oil prices is hurting Western Canadian oil-sands producers and their service companies more than their U.S. counterparts. Oil-sands projects have higher capital costs than U.S. drillers, and the crude produced from those projects sells for far less than West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark for U.S. light sweet crude oil. As a result, 21 oil-sands projects in Western Canada that were scheduled to begin construction this year have been cancelled or placed on hold, according to Industrial Info's North American Industrial Project Database. The total investment value (TIV) of these 21 projects is about $9 billion.

POWER
Nuclear Power Update: Finish Line in Sight for Watts Bar Unit 2, but Delays and Cost Overruns Still Plague Vogtle and Summer Unit Additions - The Watts Bar Unit 2 nuclear project, owned by Tennessee Valley Authority (NYSE:TVE) (TVA) (Knoxville, Tennessee), is turning out to be the belle of the nuclear power ball. Construction of the unit is now about 98% complete, and it is adhering to its construction schedules and cost estimates, TVA spokesman Scott Brooks told Industrial Info TVA will spend between $4 billion and $4.5 billion to complete the 1,180-megawatt (MW) pressurized water reactor, which is expected to be online in early 2016.

PIPELINES
Energy Play Highlight: Bakken's Crude-by-Rail, Pipeline Takeaway Greatly Exceeds Current Production - The Bakken Shale's tight oil reserves have been a hot topic for years, as regional labor shortages, labor surpluses, market access limitations and safety concerns each have had their moment in the spotlight. Multiple midstream companies have sought to capitalize on the booming production in the area, planning pipelines to carry the new source of crude to producers. Being the cheapest form of transportation for liquids over long distances, it would make sense for any pipeline proposed to meet with immediate success.

However, after multiple cancellations and postponements, it has become clear that there is something that is keeping pipelines from being successful. With high competition in the Midwest and Gulf Coast refining markets, and with production on a very slow decline, the Bakken has a surplus of takeaway capacity in just its dominant crude-by-rail infrastructure. In such an environment, there may be less demand for a pipeline than expected.

OTHER NEWS
World Powers Reach Deal with Iran - The U.S. and other world powers have reached an agreement with Iran regarding the country's nuclear research & development and the lifting of existing trade sanctions. Sanctions on oil exports and other goods and services will eventually be lifted if Iran meets the agreement's requirements. However, as the stipulations of the agreement will take months to implement and verify, the oil market remained largely unaffected by the news.

China Oil Imports for First Half of Year Up 7.5% - Despite a dip in its May crude oil imports, China's June crude oil imports were back up again, rising 31% to 7.176 million BBL/d. The country averaged imports of 6.59 million BBL/d for the first half of the year, an increase of 7.5% from the corresponding period of 2014.

Vattenfall Exiting Denmark's Fossil Fuel Power Market - Sweden's state-owned Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden) is almost out of Denmark's fossil-fuel power sector with the announcement that it is selling its Nordjylland combined heat and power (CHP) plant near Aalborg in northern Jutland.

Europe Funds Key Energy Infrastructure Projects - The European Commission (EC) has released 150 million euros ($165 million) for 20 key trans-European energy infrastructure projects to boost Europe's energy security. The selected projects will increase the European Union's (EU) energy security and help to end the isolation of member states from EU-wide energy networks.

.....

About IIR Energy
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.