-OCI Beaumont restarted its methanol unit Thursday after a shutdown caused by a mechanical failure. Via Platts, the unit shut down after a speed indication probe failed and caused a syngas compressor to interlock and shut. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the unit was restarted after the probes were replaced. The shutdown and restart occurred a week after OCI shut down and restarted ammonia and methanol units in the wake of a boiler feed water pump failure.
-North Dakota could lose $5.3 billion in tax revenue from oil producers if crude prices continue their current free fall, FuelFix reports. Under state law, a 6.5% extraction tax is forgiven if the price of oil falls below a certain “trigger” for five consecutive months. Right now the trigger is $52.58 per barrel based on the price of West Texas Intermediate crude. The average monthly price would have to be exceeded for five consecutive months before the tax could be restored. WTI stood at $55.66 per barrel as of noon today.
-Occidental Petroleum is in talks to buy Austin, Texas-based Three Rivers Operating Co. — an exploration firm that owns 82,000 acres in the Permian Basin. Via Bloomberg, the deal would mark a strategic shift for Oxy, which recently spun off its operations in California. Oxy increased its oil and gas output from the Permian by 24% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2014.
-Chesapeake Energy closed on the sale of its southern Marcellus and eastern Utica shale assets to Southwestern Energy Co. for approximately $5 billion. The assets include about 413,000 net acres and approximately 1,500 wells located in northern West Virginia and southern Pennsylvania. Net production was approximately 57,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of mid-December.
-Encana Corp. agreed to sell natural gas gathering and compression assets in northeastern British Columbia to Veresen Midstream for CAN$412 million. Veresen will provide gathering and compression services to Encana and Cutbank Ridge Partnership under a fee-for-service agreement in an area of mutual interest in the Montney shale.
