Natural Gas News – January 11, 2018

Natural Gas News – January 11, 2018

Enbridge to Restart Gulf of Mexico Natural Gas Pipeline in February

Reuters reported: HOUSTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) – A U.S. offshore natural gas pipeline could begin restarting operations for some producers next month, about three months after the line was shut due to a fire on a Royal Dutch Shell platform in the Gulf of Mexico, its operator said this week. Enbridge Inc,which runs the 1 billion-cubic-foot per-day Garden Banks gas pipeline, notified customers that its work to separate the pipeline from Shell’s fire-damaged Enchilada platform will be completed in early February. It added the timing “could change based on unforeseen circumstances.” Enbridge said after the initial work is finished, it and operators of South Marsh 192 and Garden Banks 260 platforms would begin refilling the pipeline and begin a restart. It did not say when connections to the other three affected platforms, Auger, Magnolia and Enchilada, would be renewed. Pipeline access to those platforms remains shut until further notice, it said.

Threat of Oil, Natural Gas Drilling off Brunswick County Returns with Trump Declaration

The State Port Pilot reported: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has announced plans to open nearly all the nation’s offshore waters for drilling for oil and natural gas. The move follows another recent announcement that the Trump administration is looking to scale-back some safety regulations enacted after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 workers and released 215-million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, fouling beaches from Louisiana to Florida. The draft Five-Year Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program would sell leases for drilling as soon as next year in nearly all U.S. waters in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans, with the exception of American Samoa.