Global Energy News Briefs for the Second Week of June

---

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

PIPELINES
Energy Play Highlight: Permian Basin Production and Takeaway Balance 'Now' and 'Soon' - The Permian Basin currently has 1.8 million barrels per day (BBL/d) of pipeline-based takeaway capacity. In a play where crude oil and condensate production rose to more than 2 million BBL/d last month, and is set to surpass it in June and July, this is a significant amount of pipeline access for producers. When local demand at refineries, rail transport, and upcoming project startups are taken into consideration, the production numbers and available takeaway capacity are beyond a point of parity, strongly indicating a surplus supply of takeaway capacity. However, with more projects on the books set to start up a couple of years from now, and the rig count falling after the crude price drop last year, will those projects be necessary or fully utilized?

Canada Approves TransCanada's North Montney Natural Gas Line - The Canadian government has approved TransCanada Corporation's (NYSE:TRP) (Calgary, Alberta) $1.38 billion North Montney Mainline natural gas pipeline. The pipeline will feed into TransCanada's Prince Rupert Gas Transmission line, which will provide gas to the Pacific NorthWest LNG liquefaction and export project in British Columbia, which is majority owned by Malaysia's Petronas. After Petronas said it would proceed with the project if it received a favorable environmental report, TransCanada said it would commence construction on the Prince Rupert line by the end of the year.

Williams Natural Gas Pipeline Ruptures in Pennsylvania - Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) (Tulsa, Oklahoma) reported that a section of natural gas pipeline that is part of the Transco Leidy pipeline in northeastern Pennsylvania ruptured late Wednesday evening. No injuries were reported.

COAL
Peabody to Let Go of 250 Workers - Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) (St. Louis, Missouri) says that it will cut 250 jobs and close offices in Indiana and Wyoming as the demand for and price of coal continues to decline. The company said the move will save it $40 million to $45 million.

POWER
PowerGEN Europe: Conventional Power Still has Vital Role to Play - Europe might be leading the renewable energy charge globally, but large-scale conventional power plants and utilities still have a vital role to play, according to Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Speaking at last week's Power-Gen Europe event in Amsterdam, van der Hoeven explained that the rise in renewables, combined with a drop in electricity demand across Europe, does not mean an end for large-scale conventional power.

Hydrogen, Not Coal, to Be Burned at Nebraska Power Plant - The Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) (Columbus, Nebraska) plans to switch from coal to hydrogen at Unit 2 of its Sheldon Power Station. The hydrogen will be a by-product of a carbon-black manufacturing plant that Monolith Materials Incorporated (Redwood City, San Francisco, California) plans to build next to the Sheldon station, near Lincoln, Nebraska. Monolith's planned carbon-black plant will use natural gas, not crude oil, to make carbon black, an industrial product used in vehicle tires, electronics, plastics, inks, paint and toys.

OIL & GAS PRODUCTION
Mexico's Pemex Announces Large Gulf Discovery - Mexico's state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has announced the discovery of a shallow water oil field in the southern Gulf of Mexico that may have reserves as high as 350 million barrels of oil equivalent and could boost production by 200,000 BBL/d.

EIA: U.S. Oil Reserves Fall Most Since July - The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude inventories fell by 6.8 million barrels for the week ending June 5, the highest drawdown since July of last year. Refinery crude runs rose about by 169,000 BBL/d to a 94.6% utilization rate.

Noble Says Cyprus Gas Field Could Produce 8 Bcm of Gas per Year - Noble Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NBL) (Houston, Texas) and partner Delek Group (Netyana, Israel) say that the Aphrodite natural gas field off the coast of Cyprus is commercially viable and plan to construct a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to handle 8 billion cubic meters (Bcm) of gas per year as well as an underwater pipeline to Egypt.

Norway Government Denied Expansion of Arctic Oil Boundary - The Norwegian Parliament has rejected the government's attempt to increase the available area for Arctic production by redefining the boundary of where the polar ice cap starts.

OTHER NEWS
Hess to Create Bakken Midstream Joint Venture - Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) (NewYork, New York) has announced that it will sell a 50% stake in its Bakken midstream assets to Global Infrastructure Partners (New York) for $2.675, and the two companies will create a midstream joint venture company called Hess Infrastructure Partners.

France Backs EDF-Areva Nuclear Merger - The French government has given its approval to a plan by state-owned utility Electricite de France (EPA:EDF) (EDF) (Paris) to take over the nuclear reactor business of struggling engineering giant AREVA S.A. (EPA:CEI) (Paris, France).

BP: Global Energy Consumption Slows Drastically - BP plc's (NYSE:BP) (London, England) highly anticipated Statistical Review of World Energy was released last week. The report noted a sharp slowdown in global energy consumption growth, which increased only 0.9% in 2014, compared to 2.0% in 2013, despite similar economic growth. The strongest growth came from non-OECD countries such as India and China. U.S. energy consumption grew 1.2%, while the E.U.'s consumption declined 3.9%.

.....

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.