On November 2, Cardinal Midstream Partners, an independent Dallas-based midstream energy company, concluded definitive agreements with Medallion Midstream Services to purchase Medallion’s natural gas gathering and processing business in the Delaware Basin in West Texas. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in early 2023.

Recent acquisitions totaling $305 million in cash bring Summit Midstream the opportunity to build up its Denver-Julesburg basin assets. Its subsidiary, Summit Midstream Holdings, concluded a deal to purchase Outrigger DJ Midstream from Outrigger Energy II and Sterling Energy Investments, Grasslands Energy Marketing, and Centennial Water Pipelines from Sterling Investment Holdings. Weld County-based Outrigger’s assets in Colorado are significant as they include a 60 MMcfd cryogenic natural gas processing plant, almost 70 miles of low-pressure natural gas gathering lines, 90 miles of high-pressure natural gas gathering lines, 12,800 horsepower of field and plant compression, and roughly 30 miles of crude oil gathering pipelines. The gathering agreements for Outrigger DJ system are comprised of long-term, fee-based contracts with a weighted average term of over 10 years. Volume throughput on the Outrigger DJ system is underpinned by acreage dedications, with a valued 310,000 leased acres from its key customers, including Mallard Exploration and other producers in the region. Moreover, the Sterling DJ assets, in Weld, Morgan, and Logan Counties, Colorado, and Cheyenne County, Nebraska, have three cryogenic processing plants with a nameplate capacity of 100 MMcfd, some 450 miles of natural gas gathering lines, 8,500 horsepower of field compression, freshwater rights, and 40 miles of subsurface freshwater delivery infrastructure.

Kinder Morgan Inc. decided to sell half of its 51% interest in an LNG facility in Georgia on September 27 with proceeds allocated by the Houston-based company to pay short-term debt and buy back shares. As it is acknowledged, an undisclosed financial buyer purchases the 25.5% equity interest in Elba Liquefaction Co. LLC (ELC) for approximately $565 million. ELC is a joint venture (JV) established in 2017 to build and own the Elba liquefaction facility situated on #Elba Island in Chatham County, Georgia. After completion, Kinder Morgan and the undisclosed financial buyer will each hold a 25.5% stake in ELC. Meanwhile, Blackstone Credit will continue to hold a 49% interest. The value of the equity interest considers an enterprise value of almost $2.3 billion for ELC, which is about 13 times 2022E EBITDA. The transaction has an economic effective date of July 1. The Elba liquefaction facility has 10 modular liquefaction units for a total capacity of roughly 2.5 million tonnes per year of LNG. Kinder Morgan considers it equivalent to almost 350 MMcf/d of natural gas.

On August 31 Ring Energy Inc. purchased privately-held Stronghold Energy, adding operations that are mainly situated in Crane County, Texas, in the Permian Basin’s Central Basin Platform. According to a September 1 Ring Energy release, this transaction fully complements the conventional-focused Central Basin Platform and Northwest Shelf asset positions in the Permian Basin. The majority owned by Warburg Pincus LLC, Stronghold’s operations are concentrated on the development of about 37,000 net acres situated mainly in Crane County. In July Ring Energy entered into an agreement to buy Stronghold Energy II Operating LLC and Stronghold Energy II Royalties LP for $200 million in cash at closing and $230 million in Ring equity based on a 20-day volume weighted average price. Consideration also involved a $15 million deferred cash payment due six months after closing and $20 million of existing Stronghold hedge liability increasing the total transaction value to $465 million. Stronghold’s asset base is almost 99% operated, 99% working interest, and 99% HBP. In July, Ring announced the current net production of Stronghold’s asset base was approximately 9,100 boe/d (54% oil, 75% liquids).

California oil joint venture, Aera Energy, of Exxon Mobil Corp. and ShellPlc is being sold to German asset manager IKAV, according to the agreement of Sept. 1. Shell noted that the sale of its 51.8% membership interest in Aera Energy is for a total consideration of about $2 billion in cash with additional contingent payments based on future oil prices, subject to regulatory approval. However, the total transaction value was not disclosed. Being one of California’s largest oil and gas producers, Aera Energy accounts for nearly 25% of the state’s production. The sale by Exxon Mobil and Shell ends a 25-year-long partnership in California, meanwhile, it persists a streak of divestments of mature oil and gas properties by the two supermajors. Aera Energy LLC operates about 13,000 wells in the San Joaquin Valley in California, producing oil and associated gas. In 2021, Aera took out about 95,000 boe/d. Exxon Mobil’s interests in the Aera oil-production operation in California contained a 48.2% share of Aera Energy LLC and a 50% share of Aera Energy Services Co. held by Mobil California Exploration & Producing Co. Moreover, Exxon Mobil affiliates have signed a separate agreement for the sale of an associated loading facility and pipeline system. The sale effectively ends Shell’s upstream position in California. The company reported that the divestiture is valued to result in a post-tax impairment of $300 million to $400 million, subject to adjustments.

On 3 August the pipeline operator Plains All American LP raised its 2022 profit forecast for the second time this year, as it expects a huge demand on its pipelines transporting U.S. shale oil to the Gulf Coast. The company increased full-year adjusted earnings guidance by $100 million to approximately $2.38 billion, since it anticipates higher crude and natural gas liquids volumes. European buyers have snapped up the U.S. light sweet crude, the largest part of which is delivered in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, as they depend on replacing Russian barrels. Average daily crude oil volumes in the second quarter grew 30% on its Permian Basin pipelines with oilfield activity trending about 10% exceeding its initial expectations. Its shares increased 3.6% in after-hours trading on August 3 to $11.19.

Williams said on Aug. 8, that it concluded an agreement to support the selling and transportation of certified, low emissions next-gen natural gas from PennEnergyResources LLC. According to the deal, Williams will construct a marketing portfolio to market the natural gas to utilities, LNG export facilities, and other facilities which can efficiently use clean energy. Moreover, the agreement involves a certification process that verifies best practices are being followed to reduce emissions and produce natural gas in an environmentally responsible manner collaborating with an independent third party. The partnership with PennEnergy is a continuation of Williams' strategy to collect, market, and deliver low-carbon natural gas to the end user from the wellhead. PennEnergy’s 378 production wells in southwest Pennsylvania supply the US with natural gas and they have achieved Platinum status from Project Canary’s TrustWell certification.

According to a midstream oil and natural gas company release on August 2, MPLXLP has increased total pipeline throughputs by 6% in the second quarter of 2022 and terminal throughput by 4%, versus year-ago levels. In an earnings statement of MPLX, the total pipeline throughputs were 5.9 million bbl/d, with terminal throughput of 3.1 million bbl/d for the second quarter. The company reported a net income of $875 million and adjusted earnings of $1.457 million in the second quarter, both higher than in the same period of 2021. Gathered volumes grew up by 11% from year-ago levels to an average of 5.6 Bcf/d. In the Marcellusregion, gathered volumes fell 1% compared to year-ago levels to an average of 1.3 Bcf/d. MPLX is expanding several projects, including in the Permian Basin where the Whistler pipeline is increasing from 2 Bcf/d to 2.5 Bcf/d, in addition to lateral pipelines into the Midland Basin and Corpus Christi domestic and export markets. Moreover, the construction is also maintained on the 200 MMcf/d Tornado ll processing plant, which MPLX anticipates coming online in the second half of 2022. Additionally, 68,000 bbl/d Smithburg de-ethanizer project in the Marcellus is expected to come online in the third quarter.