-The price of gasoline will rise up to 9% and the price of diesel will increase by 14% by 2017 if Congress does not repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard, the Congressional Budget Office said today. Via The Hill, the CBO said fuel refiners would have to more than triple their biofuel use to keep up with increasing mandates. The CBO, however, predicted the EPA would keep the mandated level stable through 2017.
-Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal explains why yesterday’s decision by the U.S. Commerce Department to allow two firms to export condensate will not destroy the economics of the refining business.
-Energy Transfer Partners today said it would build a new pipeline that will transport natural gas from Marcellus and Utica shale fields to markets in the U.S. and Canada. The pipeline will initially transport 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day, but it will likely be expanded to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day in the future. Energy Transfer on Wednesday said it would build an oil pipeline from the Bakken shale to an existing pipeline it operates in Illinois.
-North Dakota regulators approved North Dakota Pipeline’s Sandpiper project — a $2.6 billion, 225,000-barrels-per-day pipeline that will transport oil from the Bakken region to Clearbrook, Minn. The pipeline will ultimately deliver oil to markets in the U.S. and eastern Canada via a Wisconsin terminal owned by Enbridge Energy Partners. North Dakota Pipeline is a joint venture between Enbridge and Marathon Petroleum.
-Calgary-based Petrox Resources entered into a joint venture with Qingdao Sinoenergy Corp. of China to build an LNG liquefaction facility in northern Alberta. Via Platts, the plant would liquefy 150,000 million cubic feet of natural gas per day for shipment to LNG export terminals on Canada’s west coast.
