April 2021, Vol. 248, No. 4
Companies in the News
Companies in the News April 2021
Companies
Chevron U.S.A. and Brightmark expanded their joint venture to produce and market renewable natural gas (RNG) from dairy biomethane projects across the United States.
Subsidiaries of their RNG joint venture currently own RNG projects in Western New York, Western Michigan, Central Florida and South Dakota. Additional equity investments by each company in the joint venture will fund construction of infrastructure and commercial operation of five new dairy biomethane projects in Michigan and Arizona.
“It’s an exciting time for Chevron as we continue to help advance the energy transition and help industries and consumers that use our products build a lower carbon future,” said Andy Walz, president of Chevron’s Americas Fuels & Lubricants.
Chevron will purchase RNG produced from these projects and market the volumes for use in vehicles operating on compressed natural gas.
Energy Transfer created a new group within the partnership to increase its efforts to develop alternative energy projects and reduce its environmental footprint throughout its operations.
The new Alternative Energy Group will be led by Tom Mason, who has more than 30 years of industry experience, including 14 years as Energy Transfer’s general counsel, a role in which he will continue.
Under Mason, the group will continue to focus on renewable energy projects such as solar and/or wind farms, either as a power purchaser, or in partnership with third-party developers, and will look to develop renewable diesel and renewable natural gas opportunities when they make economic sense, Energy Transfer said. These potential projects could involve the utilization of existing pipelines throughout its pipeline system, which consists of more than 90,000 miles (145,000 km) of pipelines crossing 38 states.
The partnership recently announced the results of one of these initiatives by supporting the construction of the Maplewood 2 Solar Project in West Texas with Recurrent Energy. The 28-MW solar project, expected to be in service in the second quarter of this year, is the partnership’s first-ever dedicated solar power purchase contract.
Energy Transfer said it has been reducing its greenhouse emissions over the past 10 years through efforts such as its installation of a dual-drive compression system along some of its natural gas pipelines. That system allows switching between an electric motor and a natural gas engine to manage changes in electrical demand, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 632,000 tons in 2020 alone, Energy Transfer said.
Other emission reduction initiatives in place range from the use of emissions prevention technology such as vapor recovery units and stabilizers at natural gas process plants, to thermal oxidizers and direct injection systems to reduce or prevent methane emissions.
CorEnergy Infrastructure Trust announced it has completed an acquisition of Crimson Midstream Holdings, a California-regulated crude oil pipeline owner and operator, for approximately $350 million.
The acquired assets include four critical infrastructure pipeline systems spanning 1,800 miles (2,900 km) across northern, central and southern California, connecting native California crude production to in-state refineries producing state-mandated specialized fuel blends, among other products.
The acquisition was funded with a combination of cash, equity and the contribution of the Grand Isle Gathering System to the sellers and borrowings.
Following the transaction, Dave Schulte will remain chairman, CEO and president of CorEnergy. John Grier, founder and chairman of Crimson Midstream will become chief operating officer and join the Board of Directors of CorEnergy. Also joining CorEnergy are Robert Waldron, chief financial officer at Crimson Midstream, who will become CFO of CorEnergy, and Larry Alexander, president of Crimson California’s operations.
Pine Run Gathering, a joint ventured owned by subsidiaries of Stonehenge Energy Resources III and UGI Energy Services, announced they have acquired Pine Run Midstream from an affiliate of PennEnergy Resources.
Pine Run Midstream operates 43 miles (69 km) of dry natural gas gathering pipeline and compression assets located in Butler and Armstrong Counties in western Pennsylvania. The Pine Run Midstream system has been in operation since 2014 and will be operated by Stonehenge.
Pine Run Gathering is Stonehenge’s fourth venture and UGI Energy Services’ second recent investment in the Appalachian basin.
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