-The May oil spill in Santa Barbara County, California, may have been larger than originally estimated, the Associated Press reports. Plains All American Pipeline said in a report made public Wednesday its ruptured pipeline may have spilled up to 143,000 gallons instead of 101,000 gallons. Several thousand gallons of oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean, later washing up on a popular state beach and sending tar balls as far south as Los Angeles County.
-Energy Transfer Partners launched an open season for a pipeline that would gather Delaware Basin crude from gathering points in Texas and New Mexico. The project would consist of three gathering systems with a total of 130 miles of pipeline and would send oil to the Sunoco Logistics Partners Delaware Basin Extension. The pipeline is expected to start up in the first half of 2016.
-Meanwhile, Energy Transfer has moved to the second round of bidding for Williams Companies, Reuters reports. Williams rejected a $48 billion bid from Energy Transfer in June. Sources say Kinder Morgan and Spectra Energy Corp. have also expressed in buying Williams.
-Texas drillers who transport natural gas are driving a boom in pipeline spending in Mexico. Via Bloomberg, there have been more than $10 billion in planned or completed pipeline projects announced by companies since Mexico opened its energy sector to private investment last year. A surge in gas pipeline construction has buoyed foreign investment activity in Mexico while oil producers have largely stood on the sidelines amid the downturn.
-Officials in Texas are calling on the federal government to speed up the LNG export project approval process and end the ban on crude oil exports.
