Kinder Morgan, a US pipeline operator, has announced its acquisition of NextEra Energy Partners' gas pipelines in South Texas for $1.82 billion. The deal comes as the oil and gas pipeline industry experiences increased consolidation due to growing US production and challenges in obtaining permits for new pipelines. NextEra Energy Partners' Texas natural gas pipeline portfolio, STX Midstream, consists of seven pipelines that supply natural gas to Mexico, power producers, and municipalities in South Texas. The transaction is expected to be funded with cash on hand and short-term borrowings and is set to close in the first quarter of 2024.
Jefferson Parish in Louisiana plans to build its own pipelines along the banks of the Mississippi River to avoid salt water intrusion and ensure a continued supply of fresh water for its treatment plants. The parish has received approval from the Army Corps of Engineers and will begin work as early as next week. The pipelines will deliver fresh water from an area of the river in Kenner, where salt levels are expected to be lower, to the treatment plants in Marrero and Old Jefferson. This initiative comes as officials across southeast Louisiana prepare for a saltwater wedge from the Gulf of Mexico that threatens the region's drinking water systems.
One year after the underwater explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines, investigations in three countries have failed to determine who was behind the attack. The incident heightened geopolitical tensions and threatened to draw the European Union and NATO into the war. The question of who was responsible for the sabotage remains unanswered, leaving the implications and motives of the attack unresolved.
A Russian warship guarding gas pipelines in the Black Sea was attacked by three uncrewed speedboats from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to Russian officials. The attack failed to cause any damage, they claimed. The Ivan Khurs is one of Russia's most modern ships in the Black Sea fleet and has a crew of 120. It was launched in 2017 and is armed with 14.5 mm machine guns and portable air defense systems. The ship was protecting the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines, which carry gas from Russia to Turkey.
The European Union is unlikely to agree to a proposal to ban natural gas imports from Russian pipelines in the future, despite reports that the G7 and EU were considering such a plan. The 11th sanctions package is almost complete, and an EU diplomat has said that it is very unlikely such a large change will be made now. Russia's natural gas exports via pipeline to Europe fell by 11.4% in the first half of May compared to the average pipeline flows in April.
ONEOK Inc. is set to acquire Magellan Midstream Partners LP for $18.8 billion, creating a combined company with a total value of $60 billion. The acquisition will add a leading, primarily fee-based, refined products and crude oil transportation business to ONEOK, resulting in a more resilient energy infrastructure company that is expected to produce stable cash flows through diverse commodity cycles. The combined company will own more than 25,000 miles of liquids-oriented pipelines, with significant assets and operational expertise at the Gulf Coast and Mid-Continent market hubs. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023 and has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of both companies.
Despite Ukraine's urging to end reliance on Russian gas, the vast majority of energy resources still run through Ukraine's own pipeline system, carrying nearly all of Central and Western Europe's remaining exports of Russian gas. Ukraine stopped buying Russian gas for its own energy needs in 2015, but the country has continued to collect revenue for shipping that gas west. Ukraine's gas infrastructure is a crisscrossing network of about 45,000 miles of pipelines, and the system dates to Soviet times and at one point supplied 80 percent of Europe's natural gas.
