January’s top stories: UK panel call for fracking ban, Total wins stake in onshore oil concession

_{UK Parliament Environmental Audit Committee calls for fracking ban}

A group of UK legislators have proposed a moratorium on shale gas fracking in the country, saying that there are huge uncertainties about its impact on water supplies, air quality and public health.

The UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee in its report said that the hydraulic fracturing for shale gas is ‘incompatible’ with targets to fight climate change and could pose significant localised environmental risks to public health.

Environmental Audit Committee chairman Joan Walley said: "Ultimately, fracking cannot be compatible with our long-term commitments to cut climate changing emissions unless full-scale carbon capture and storage technology is rolled out rapidly, which currently looks unlikely.

"There are also huge uncertainties around the impact that fracking could have on water supplies, air quality and public health."

"We cannot allow Britain’s national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty to be developed into oil and gas fields. Even if a national moratorium on shale drilling in the UK is not accepted, there should be an outright ban on fracking in such special sites."

Total secures stake in Abu Dhabi onshore oil concession

The Government of Abu Dhabi and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have selected Total as the first partner in a 40-year concession for several of the country’s onshore oil fields.

The agreement with the Supreme Petroleum Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (UAE) and ADNOC gives Total a 10% stake in the new concession.

The Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations Limited (ADCO) will operate the new concession, which covers the fifteen principal onshore oil fields and represents over half of the Emirate’s production.

Statoil and GE partner to lower environmental impact of oil and gas production

Statoil and GE have formed a partnership to develop sustainable energy solutions to drive down costs and cut emissions and energy usage in the oil and gas industry.

The companies are collaborating in a joint technology programme, which aimed at tackling flaring, CO2 and methane emissions and water usage in industry operations.

Statoil and GE will initially focus on a foundation of concrete projects already started to address important sustainability dimensions of the industry.

Knight Warrior awards contracts for 160-mile pipeline project in US

Knight Warrior has awarded contracts to build its 160-mile pipeline that will connect the East Texas Eaglebine-Woodbine crude oil play to Houston refining and export markets.

Hatch Mott MacDonald, Contract Land Staff and Apex TITAN have secured contracts for engineering and design, land management and environmental services, respectively.

The pipeline, which is expected to cost about $300m, will start in Madison County continuing south via Walker, Grimes, Montgomery and Harris counties.

It will have an initial capacity of 100,000 BPD with options to expand up to 200,000 BPD.

Kinder Morgan to acquire Hiland Partners for $3bn

Energy infrastructure firm Kinder Morgan has agreed to acquire Hiland Partners for about $3bn, including the assumption of debt.

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2015.

Hiland operates crude oil gathering and transportation pipelines and natural gas gathering and processing systems primarily in the Bakken shale oilfields in North Dakota and Montana.

The company’s operations are primarily located in the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions of the US.

Cheniere, EIG finalise $1.5bn investment for Corpus Christi liquefaction project in Texas

Cheniere Energy and EIG Management Company have finalised $1.5bn equity investment for the Corpus Christi liquefaction project in Texas, the US.

Under a note purchase agreement, investment funds managed by EIG will purchase $1.5bn of convertible notes (the financing).

Cheniere will utilise proceeds from the financing as equity to fund a part of the costs of developing, building the project and placing it into service.

The financing is due to close once Cheniere reaches a positive final investment decision on the project in the first half of 2015.

Jereh completes first shale gas liquefaction plant in China

Oil and gas firm Jereh Group has completed the first shale gas liquefaction plant in China.

Located at Junlian county in Sichuan province, the plant covers an area of 718,000ft².

The first phase of the project will produce 2,470,000 cubic feet of LNG per day.

Construction on the phase two, which is capable of producing up to 10,590,000 cf/d, is scheduled to commence shortly.

Woodside signs MoU with Adani Enterprises for energy cooperation

Woodside Energy and Adani Enterprises have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate on exploring business opportunities in India.

Both the companies will cooperate in identification, investigation and development of possible business arrangements and commercial initiatives.

Woodside and Adani will jointly explore opportunities in sourcing of liquefied natural gas (LNG), supply and purchase arrangements for India, LNG marketing.

The MoU also includes investment in upstream activities such as oil & gas exploration, production & liquefaction plants.