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Sept. 16-20: Three Mile Island shuts down; Energy Transfer to buy SemGroup

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Sept. 16-20: Three Mile Island shuts down; Energy Transfer to buy SemGroup

A look back at successes and setbacks in the energy industry.

Highs

DOMINION — Dominion Energy Inc. on Sept. 19 announced plans to develop more than 2,600 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2026 about 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, Va. Dominion said it plans to build the 2,640-MW offshore wind project in three phases with the first phase complete by 2024. The final phases, each 880 MW, are expected to come online in 2025 and 2026. Dominion said the proposed project would be located in the 112,800 acres offshore that the company is leasing from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to build on its pilot 12-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

ENERGY TRANSFER — Energy Transfer LP on Sept. 16 said it has agreed to acquire Tulsa, Okla.-headquartered midstream energy company SemGroup Corp. in a $5 billion cash-and-stock deal, which includes the assumption of debt. The deal is valued at $17 per share, based on the closing price of Energy Transfer units Sept. 13, and represents a 65% premium to SemGroup's share closing price on the same date. The deal gives Energy Transfer control of SemGroup's Houston Fuel Oil Terminal on the Houston Ship Channel. The terminal has 18.2 million barrels of crude oil storage capacity and is underpinned by take-or-pay contracts. Energy Transfer plans to build a new crude oil pipeline connecting the Houston terminal to its Nederland, Texas, terminal.

Between

DUKE ENERGY — Duke Energy Corp. unveiled plans Sept. 17 to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across its operations in six states by 2050 and reduce emissions by 50% compared to 2005 baseline levels in 2030. To reach these goals, Duke Energy said it will at least double its renewable energy portfolio by 2025 and consider additional coal retirements across its service territories. In a subsequent move on Sept. 19, Duke Energy said it plans to seek a second 20-year renewal of the operating licenses for all of its nuclear plants in the Carolinas. The licenses for many of Duke Energy's nuclear units in the Carolinas are set to expire in the 2030s and the company said an additional 20-year license will support its carbon-reduction goals while providing strong economic and reliability benefits.

BLACKSTONE — Private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc. is open to exiting its stake in Cheniere Energy Partners LP, the head of Blackstone Energy Partners said in a Sept. 18 interview at the Gastech conference in Houston. Blackstone Energy Partners head David Foley said the firm would consider selling its 202 million shares, a 41% stake currently valued at $9.7 billion, in the Cheniere Energy Inc. affiliate if the right offer came along. "Everything we own, we have to consider selling at some point," Foley said. "We're very happy with the investment. It's great. If someone else sees that value and wants to make an offer, we'd have to consider it."

Lows

THREE MILE ISLAND — Exelon Corp. on Sept. 20 permanently shut down the 829-MW Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Exelon subsidiary Exelon Generation Co. LLC said in May it planned to shut down the reactor before Sept. 30 as Pennsylvania lawmakers did not take timely action that might have kept the facility open. The unit began operating in 1974 and has struggled to compete with an influx of cheap gas-fired generation in the PJM Interconnection market. The plant's now-decommissioned unit 2 experienced a partial meltdown in 1979 and was never restarted.

SAUDI ARAMCO ATTACKS — About half of Saudi Arabian crude oil production was lost following Sept. 14 drone attacks on Saudi Arabian Oil Co.'s Abqaiq processing facility and the Khurais oil field. The attack on the Abqaiq facility knocked about 5.7 million barrels of oil per day worth of production out of the global market, or approximately 5% of the world's total. The Saudi government has insisted that while the strikes did significant damage, the Abqaiq plant will be fully operational again within a few months.