Greater availability of natural gas in New Zealand is behind the restart and expansion of methanol plants in New Zealand, said Methanex Corp., Vancouver, BC.

Major cryogenic processing and NGL fractionation will come on stream in eastern Ohio late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter to handle Utica shale natural gas and liquids, with another plant planned for 2014.

Howard Midstream Energy Partners LLC, San Antonio, will build a 200-MMcfd cryogenic natural gas processing plant in Webb County, Tex., and already has begun building an import and export railroad hub for oil field services and products, including condensate and NGLs.

Williams Cos., Tulsa, has awarded a preliminary engineering contract for its proposed Canadian propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant to Fluor Corp., Irving, Tex.

North Sea Midstream Partners, recently formed by ArcLight Capital Partners LLC, Boston, has purchased Teesside Gas Processing Plant Ltd. from a consortium of Deutsche Bank, private US equity investor MatlinPatterson, and Carval, a division of the Cargill Group.

The US Bureau of Land Management is seeking comment on a proposed Wyoming natural gas development involving up to 4,250 wells on 265,000 acres in Fremont, Natrona, and Sweetwater counties. It also wants comments on possibly amending the 2007 Casper Resource Management Plan, which could be required for the project, it added, BLM’s Lander field office said on Jan. 17.

Oneok Partners LP plans to build a 100-MMcfd natural gas processing plant, Garden Creek III, and related infrastructure in eastern McKenzie County, ND, in the Williston basin.

Nuevo Midstream LLC, Houston, has completed Phase 2 expansion of its Ramsey natural gas gathering, processing, and treating in the Delaware basin near Orla, Tex., Reeves County, about 65 miles west of Odessa.

Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd., Melbourne, last month awarded a $550 million contract to CB&I, Houston, for work at Esso’s Longford, Victoria, gas plant.

Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPP), Houston, reported it has executed long-term, fee-based agreements that effectively sell out its 1.65 billion lb/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant scheduled to begin operating in third-quarter 2015.

MarkWest Energy Partners, Denver, has begun operations at the first of three planned Mobley gas processing plants in Wetzel County, W.Va.

European Union sanctions on natural gas exports from Iran may be having unintended consequences for the country’s exports of LPG, according to analysis by Facts Global Energy, Honolulu.

Statoil Petroleum AS has signed a 3-year frame agreement with a unit of Foster Wheeler’s global engineering and construction group for front-end engineering design (FEED) services at the Karsto and Kollsnes gas processing plants.