JSC Yamal LNG has let a contract for engineering, procurement, supply, construction, and commissioning on its planned 16.5-million tonne/year natural gas liquefaction plant to a consortium of France’s Technip and Japan’s JGC.

Alexey Miller, chairman of Gazprom’s management committee, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss pipeline exports of Russian natural gas. Miller updated Putin on the Nord Stream and South Stream lines, while Putin tasked Miller with developing the Yamal II pipeline and a gas branch to the Kaliningrad region.

A 1,300-mile pipeline that would transport Azerbaijan offshore natural gas to Turkey and Europe, effectively expanding a southern corridor for Caspian Basin gas, is moving forward, a BP PLC official said.

An alliance of US and Canadian chemical companies oppose increased natural gas exports and are lobbying against export permitting. Fitch Ratings believes operating margins for these companies might see compression from current robust levels if significant gas exports materialize.

The US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a corrective action order on Apr. 2 preventing ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. (EMP) from restarting operations on a leaking Arkansas crude oil pipeline until satisfactory repairs have been made and immediate safety concerns have been addressed.

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s staff has prepared a supplemental draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Downeast LNG project in Maine. Comments will be accepted until May 20, FERC said.

ExxonMobil Corp. and BHP Billiton plan to develop the 1979 Scarborough natural gas field discovery on the Exmouth plateau off Western Australia using floating LNG (FLNG) technology, the companies said.

TransCanada Corp. will hold a binding open season to obtain firm commitments for a pipeline to transport crude oil from Western Canada to delivery points in the Montreal and Quebec City, Que., and Saint John, NB, areas.

Dominion, Richmond, Va., has reached three milestones in its Dominion Cove Point LNG liquefaction project, the company said Apr. 1. The site for the export plant will be at Dominion’s existing LNG import terminal in Maryland on Chesapeake Bay.

ExxonMobil Pipeline Co.’s 20-in. OD, 848-mile Pegasus crude oil pipeline ruptured Mar. 29 near Mayflower, Ark., about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock. The pipeline has been shut in and crews are working to contain the spill.

Chevron Corp. has signed a binding long-term sales and purchase agreement with Chubu Electric Power Co. for Chubu to take 1 million tonnes/year of LNG from the Wheatstone project off Western Australia. The uptake will be for 20 years.