Global Energy News Briefs for the Second Week of April

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

TOP NEWS
Shell Makes $70 Billion Agreement to Acquire BG Group - Some of the biggest news of last week was Royal Dutch Shell's (NYSE:RDS-A) announcement of plans to acquire Britain's BG Group plc for $70 billion, representing the largest oil company merger in a decade and potentially paving the way for more merger and acquisition activity. For discussion of how this merger could affect planned project activity, see April 9 article - Shell's Acquisition of BG Group Could Impact Big-Ticket Projects.

U.S. Crude Reserves Have Biggest Weekly Rise Since 2001 - After closing at their highest price for 2015, news from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that U.S. oil inventories had grown by a whopping 10.95 million barrels in the previous week--the highest weekly rise since 2001, and well above analysts' average expectations--helped send both Brent and WTI tumbling. However, upward movement on Friday, due to a lower rig count and evidence that an agreement with Iran may be on shakier ground than previously thought, helped oil continue a streak of weekly gains.

Apache Corp. to Sell Australian Assets - As Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) (Houston, Texas) continues to streamline its global assets in order to focus on North American production, the company has announced plans to sell its assets in Australia to a group of private equity funds.

PG&E Ordered to Pay $1.6 Billion for 2010 Pipeline Explosion - California regulators have hit PG&E Corp. with a record $1.6 billion fine for a pipeline explosion in 2010 that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in San Bruno, California, in 2010.

LNG
Cheniere Receives FERC Approval for Sabine Pass Expansion - The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given the go-ahead for Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) (Houston, Texas) to add a fifth and sixth liquefied natural gas (LNG) train to its Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana. This would allow Cheniere to increase the plant's processing capacity from 2.76 billion cubic feet per day to 4.14 billion cubic feet per day; however, Cheniere needs permission from the U.S. Department of Energy to export the additional product.

Russia's Rosneft to Delay LNG Project - Sources told Reuters that Russian oil and gas giant Rosneft's planned LNG plant on the Pacific island of Sakhalin will be delayed by at least two years as global LNG prices have collapsed and Western sanctions against Russia because of its actions against Ukraine have hindered the availability of funding.

PRODUCTION
North Dakota Orders Five Companies to Reduce Production for Excess Flaring - North Dakota showed that regulations that took effect January 1 to capture at least 77% of the natural gas produced at crude oil production wells have teeth, as the state ordered five companies, including Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) (Houston) and Abraxas Petroleum Corporation (NASDAQ:AXAS) (San Antonio, Texas), to reduce oil output to 100 BBL/d for 30 wells that were in violation of the rule.

DOI Rule on Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal Lands Widely Criticized - The pundits were right: virtually no one welcomed the new rule from the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) (Washington, D.C.) on hydraulic fracturing on federal lands, released March 20. Four years in the making, the 100-page rule sets out new federal standards for Oil & Gas Industry activity on federal lands, including new standards for well integrity, water protection and disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.

PIPELINES & MIDSTREAM
Big Ticket Oil & Gas Pipeline Projects Clustered in 2016 - 2016 is slated to almost double the number of oil and gas projects and more than triple the investment value for 2015. While some of this shift can be attributed to project delays as a result of lower oil prices, the drivers for spending in 2016 are the big-ticket mega-projects that have been clustered around mid- to late 2016. - 2016 is slated to almost double the number of oil and gas projects and more than triple the investment value for 2015. While some of this shift can be attributed to project delays as a result of lower oil prices, the drivers for spending in 2016 are the big-ticket mega-projects that have been clustered around mid- to late 2016.

EV Energy Partners to Sell Utica Natural Gas Assets - EV Energy Partners (NASDAQ:EVEP) (Houston) has said that it will sell natural gas gathering and compression facilities in the Utica Shale region for $575 million to a subsidiary of Williams Partners (NYSE:WPZ) (Tulsa, Oklahoma), although other partners in the project will have first refusal of the assets for the same price.

POWER
AEP to Shut Down Seven Coal-Fired Power Plants - American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP) (Columbus, Ohio) will shut down seven coal-fired power plants by the end of May. Two others are being converted to run on natural gas.

NextEra Energy to Build $640 Million Colorado Windfarms - NextEra Energy Resources LLC, the biggest renewable energy power company in North America, is spending another $640 million on two massive new windfarms in eastern Colorado. The company, a unit of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE:NEE), started work on the two Colorado windfarm projects in the last few weeks and expects them to be operational by the end of 2015.

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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.