-Kinder Morgan will invest $54 million to build an interconnect and other facilities for its Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate pipeline. Republic Midstream Marketing agreed to build a pipeline from Lavaca County, Texas, to the new interconnect at Kinder Morgan’s DeWitt Station near Cuero, Texas. Kinder Morgan will also build two 120,000-barrel storage tanks, truck offloading racks and related facilities. The project is expected to come online next June.
-Pioneer Natural Resources on Monday said it exported its first cargo of condensate from the Eagle Ford shale in late July, Reuters reports. It was reported last month that firms from South Korea and Japan had purchased the first cargoes of condensate from the U.S. after federal authorities allowed Pioneer and Enterprise Products Partners to export distilled ultralight oil.
-Meanwhile, Platts reports that several companies are working with lawyers and other representatives of Pioneer and Enterprise to export condensate without a ruling from the Commerce Department. At present, those firms could export condensate if it qualifies under the classification of the rulings, but there is no guarantee that they would not be subjected to civil and criminal penalties or stripped of their export privileges. Marathon Oil said today it is "pursuing every avenue" to get its condensate to market.
-A leaky underground gas pipe owned by LCY Chemical Corp. was the likely cause of a series of explosions in Taiwan Thursday that killed at least 27 people and injured 286, the Wall Street Journal reports. The explosions also caused major property damage in the city of Kaohsiung — Taiwan’s second most populous city and a major petrochemical hub.
-Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper struck a deal with Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) to establish a task force that would minimize conflicts between oil and gas activity and local schools, homes and businesses, FuelFix reports. The agreement is an alternative to a November ballot initiative that the governor fears would ban fracking in the state if approved. The task force will include community leaders, business representatives and citizens.
