Nord Stream 2, the controversial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, advanced a step in Europe during February—but only a step.

 

Enterprise Products Partners has placed into service its Shin Oak NGL mainline from Orla, Tex., to its NGL fractionation and storage complex at the Mont Belvieu hub. The 24-in. pipeline has an initial capacity of 250,000 b/d and provides takeaway for increasing NGL production from multiple basins, including the Permian, where NGL volumes are forecast to nearly double within the next 3 years.

Jupiter Energy Group has launched an extension of the open season that began in November 2018 for binding shipper commitments on the Jupiter Pipeline, which is expected to be operational in fourth-quarter 2020. The open season will now end on May 31.

The US Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nomination of Andrew Wheeler as the US Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator by a 52-47 vote on Feb. 27. Trump nominated Wheeler earlier this year.

As much as 6 million bbl of crude oil from three US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) sites in Texas and Louisiana will be offered in an upcoming March sale, the US Department of Energy announced on Feb. 27. The auctions are mandated to fund modernization of the reserve from fiscal 2017 through 2020 under Section 404 of the 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act, it noted.

Renewable energy and natural gas appear likely to see their global market shares grow the most through 2040, BP Chief Economist Spencer Dale told a Washington audience. But large investments still will be needed to produce more oil and gas as demand climbs more quickly in economically developing countries, Dale said during a Feb. 27 presentation of BP’s 2019 Global Energy Outlook at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Northwestern University researchers have developed a blueprint for understanding and predicting the properties and behavior of complex nanoparticles and optimizing their use for a broad range of scientific applications. These include catalysis, optoelectronics, transistors, bio-imaging, and energy storage and conversion.

Bahrain is discussing development of an offshore oil and gas discovery it disclosed last year with US oil companies, Reuters reports. Oil Minister Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa told the news service, “Maybe towards the end of this year we might be in a position to have an interested company, we hope.”

Sarta Phase 1A development in the Kurdistan region of Iraq will proceed, reports Genel Energy, a new block partner. Genel acquired a 30% interest in the Sarta production-sharing contract from operator Chevron, which retains 50%. Genel also acquired a 40% interest from Chevron in the Qara Dagh block, which it will operate through a carry arrangement with Chevron retaining 40%.

National Petrochemical Industrial Co., a Saudi joint-stock company, has let a contract to a subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for the revamp of a plant at its 400,000-tonne/year propylene-polypropylene complex at Yanbu Industrial City on Saudi Arabia’s west coast.