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Gas pipeline safety rule to go public; NEP to buy Meade Pipeline for $1.37B

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Gas pipeline safety rule to go public; NEP to buy Meade Pipeline for $1.37B

S&P Global Market Intelligence is excited to announce the upcoming launch of an afternoon edition of our Daily Dose feature for energy. On Sept. 30, subscribers will see this new offering, which will highlight the best of our energy news, data and research, in their inbox and available on the Market Intelligence platform.

Top News

US EPA ozone review includes science showing new link between smog and diabetes

A new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assessment on ozone suggests that the smog-forming pollutant causes adverse health effects well below levels the federal government deems safe.

What you need to know about PHMSA's long-awaited gas pipeline safety rule

Federal regulators expected the first of long-awaited natural gas pipeline safety rules to go public early in the week of Sept. 29, giving the pipeline industry the certainty over regulation that it has been counting on since rulemaking began in 2011.

Exxon's landmark move to sell Norwegian assets accelerates $15B divestment plan

In what would be the largest Norwegian upstream deal since the merger of Statoil and Norsk Hydro ASA in 2006, Exxon Mobil Corp.'s proposed landmark $4.5 billion sale of nonoperated assets in Norway to Eni SpA subsidiary Vår Energi AS will jump-start the major's plan to divest $15 billion by 2021, analysts said.

Coal deliveries from proposed Arch-Peabody JV more than 25% of US production

A proposed joint venture between two U.S. coal heavyweights in the western U.S. will bring together a set of coal mines accounting for more than a quarter of the total coal deliveries to U.S. power plants in 2018.

Quoted

"There is no stopping solar. You are getting electricity from sand and there's no moving parts. It doesn't pollute, it keeps getting better, more efficient and cheaper, and in the end you can grind it back down into sand. How can you beat that?" said Nigel Cockroft, general manager of JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd.'s U.S. business.

Power

* The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has cleared Duke Energy Carolinas LLC to recover about $258 million in costs associated with the canceled William States Lee III Nuclear Station project in South Carolina under an amortization plan that veers from the agency's normal policy.

* Wisconsin regulators issued a final ruling approving American Transmission Co. LLC, ITC Midwest LLC and Dairyland Power Cooperative's 345-kV Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line project.

* As the U.S. solar industry presses lawmakers to continue supporting the market with federal tax incentives, Jeffrey Eckel, CEO of investment firm Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital Inc., argues that the sector would be better off if the subsidy unwinds as planned.

* North Carolina is moving forward with its clean energy plan, which calls for carbon neutrality by 2050.

* The PJM Interconnection updated market participants Sept. 26 that it suspended and will not move forward with any base residual auction deadlines for its capacity market until it receives an order from federal regulators.

* The U.S. Interior Department is seeking to enlarge the Shasta Dam in Northern California, despite its own scientists concluding that it would endanger the environment. According to The New York Times, the project, which had been resisted by the department for years, would benefit Westlands Water District, a former client of current Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Shasta has a current operating capacity of 714 MW.

* Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer unveiled his climate plan, which calls for 100% clean electricity by 2040 and the mobilization of a $200 billion investment in distributed reliability resources and a $250 billion investment in grid modernization and resilience.

Natural gas

* NextEra Energy Partners agreed to acquire Meade Pipeline Co LLC for approximately $1.37 billion, including roughly $90 million in future capital contributions through 2022. Meade Pipeline owns a 39.2% interest in the 185-mile Central Penn intrastate natural gas pipeline that has the capacity to deliver up to approximately 1.7 Bcf of natural gas per day.

* Just a year after deadly fires and explosions hit the same area, a gas leak in one of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts' service lines prompted an evacuation of at least 100 people in Lawrence, Mass.

* British energy company Centrica PLC has loaded its first liquified natural gas cargo from the Sabine Pass liquefaction plant in Louisiana. The cargo is set to land in Europe in early October.

* The International Energy Agency does not have immediate plans to encourage natural gas emergency reserves among member countries, but it is urging them to pay attention to gas security amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

* Contango Oil & Gas Co. has agreed to acquire the assets of White Star Petroleum LLC for $132.5 million as part of the latter's Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

* Mexico could see its natural gas infrastructure expand as imports from the U.S. ramp up following an agreement to end pipeline contract disputes, Fitch Ratings' research arm, Fitch Solutions, said in a recent report.

Oil

* Industry executives see difficulties looming as oilfield services sector companies continue to struggle amid tighter customer spending, even as oil and natural gas production continued to cruise higher.

* BP PLC CEO Bob Dudley plans to retire within by late 2020, Sky News reported, citing sources.

* The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency denied Enbridge Inc.'s water certification request for the Line 3 replacement project, citing the recent Court of Appeals decision and the need for additional information.

* Separately, the Canada Energy Regulator stopped Enbridge from offering contracted space on its Mainline pipeline system due to "perception of abuse," Reuters reported.

* Two former Andeavor board members are pushing for the removal of Marathon Petroleum Corp. CEO Gary Heminger to help resolve a perceived "stagnation and destruction of value" at the integrated refiner.

* Occidental Petroleum Corp. is set to reach approximately $10 billion of its targeted divestitures as part of its recent acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. The company said it completed the $3.9 billion sale of Anadarko's Mozambique LNG stake to Total and the $650 million sale of its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline LP and Plains GP Holdings LP.

* An oil lawyer is concerned that "inexperienced" political appointees could jeopardize the deregulatory agenda of the Trump administration, The Washington Post reported.

Coal

* While climate change and clean energy-focused protests and events have swept across the U.S. this week, coal's role in the movement was largely left out of the discussion.

* The Mine Safety and Health Administration is reinstating rules pertaining to standards for workplace examinations more than 2.5 years after they were first published.

ChartWatch

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California carbon allowance prices at the over-the-counter markets were mixed during the week ended Sept. 26, shaking out in the wake of the latest quarterly Western Climate Initiative, or WCI, auction.

New from RRA

* The California Public Utilities Commission voted Sept. 26 to authorize a combined electric and gas rate increase of $422 million in 2019 for San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Gas Co., both subsidiaries of Sempra Energy.

The day ahead

* Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. equity markets. To view more SNL equity market indexes, click here. To view more SNL Energy commodities prices, click here.

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Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.

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