-An underground oil pipeline owned by Houston-based Crestwood Midstream Services has leaked one million gallons of saltwater at a North Dakota Indian reservation. Via Reuters, an unknown amount of fluid leaked into a bay connected to a lake that provides the reservation with drinking water. Crestwood said the pipeline had no leak alert system in place and that the leak was discovered while the company was going through production loss reports.
-Via the Wall Street Journal, Exxon Mobil Corp. said it was the target of an attempt by Pennsylvania’s attorney general to ban fracking in the state. The state has brought charges against the company for a wastewater spill related to hydraulic fracturing operations in north-central Pennsylvania in 2010. Exxon Mobil subsidiary XTO Energy said other companies had committed worse environmental offenses with impunity.
-BASF and Mexican firm Alpek signed new agreements related to the expandable polystyrene and polyurethane activities of their joint venture Polioles. Alpek will acquire all of the Polioles’ expandable polystyrene business activities and BASF will buy the joint venture’s polyurethane business. Alpek will also acquire BASF’s expandable polystyrene business in North and South America.
-Magellan Midstream Partners and Occidental Petroleum Corp. announced a supplemental open season for the BridgeTex Pipeline, which is in the final stages of construction. The pipeline will have the capacity to transport up to 300,000 barrels per day of crude from the Permian Basin to the Greater Houston region.
-Meanwhile, Oxy appointed new leaders for its California spin-off, California Resources Corp. Todd A. Stevens was named president and CEO and William E. Albrecht was appointed executive chairman of the board. Stevens is a 19-year veteran of Oxy who has served as vice president of corporate development since 2012. Albrecht has been president of Occidental Oil and Gas — Americas and vice president of Oxy since 2011.
