-Global Infrastructure Partners agreed to buy a 25% stake in the Freeport LNG export facility for $850 million. Freeport LNG received federal approval to export LNG last year and hopes to begin constructing its first trains in 2015. Via the Wall Street Journal, Global Infrastructure Partners is acquiring a stake from funds managed by Hastings Funds Management and Zachry American Infrastructure.
-Chevron Phillips Chemical has declared a force majeure on polyethylene supply, Platts reports. The announcement comes a week after a fire at the company’s Port Arthur, Texas, plant injured two workers and caused a steam cracker shutdown. Equistar last week declared a force majeure for polyethylene produced at its Matagorda and Victoria, Texas, facilities.
-A lawyer who represents Enterprise Products Partners said today at an energy conference there would be no “avalanche” of condensate exports after Enterprise and another firm were recently allowed to export minimally refined light oil. The Commerce Department’s rulings, he explained, are under wraps and are highly specific to the individual cases, making it difficult for other firms to request similar approvals.
-Rose Rock Midstream today announced plans to begin commissioning the White Cliffs Pipeline expansion this month. The pipeline, which carries crude oil from Platteville, Colo., to Cushing, Okla., underwent a capacity expansion from 76,000 barrels per day to approximately 150,000 barrels per day. The pipeline is co-owned by Rose Rock, Plains All American Pipeline, Western Gas Partners and Noble Energy.
-Seven small earthquakes hit central Oklahoma over the weekend. The quakes ranged in magnitude from 2.6 to 4.3 on the Richter Scale. No injuries or damage were reported. Some scientific studies have asserted that the injection of fracking wastewater is to blame for earthquakes that have been reported recently in Oklahoma and Ohio.
