Natural gas pipeline companies are being targeted by a cyber attack that appears to have been launched in December, according to a notice from the Department of Homeland Security, reports CNN News.

The threat was disclosed in a monthly note published by the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT), a DHS division devoted to cybersecurity.

DHS's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team has been working since March 2012 with infrastructure owners and operators in the oil and natural gas sector to address a series of cyber intrusions targeting natural gas pipeline companies, according to spokesman Peter Boogaard. The cyber intrusion involves sophisticated spear-phishing activities targeting personnel within the private companies. Spear-phishing attacks are efforts to get employees to click on e-mail attachments.

According to the report, government investigators have been able to identify the nature of the attacks, but not the exact size or scope. The cyber attack was reported by private-sector companies.

SemGroup, Chesapeake and Gavilon join to build Glass Mountain Pipeline

A subsidiary of SemGroup Corp., an affiliate of Chesapeake Energy Corp., and Gavilon LLC announced the formation of Glass Mountain Pipeline LLC and the signing of definitive agreements to build the previously announced 210-mile crude oil pipeline. Construction of the pipeline is expected to begin this summer and be commissioned in the fall of 2013.

The new pipeline, constructed by SemGroup, will have an initial capacity of about 140,000 barrels (bbl.) per day and 440,000 bbl. of intermediate storage. The pipeline will consist of two laterals. One lateral will originate near the town of Alva in Woods County, Oklahoma. The second lateral will originate near the town of Arnett in Ellis County, Oklahoma.

The pipeline will increase in diameter where the laterals intersect near Cleo Springs in Major County, Oklahoma, and continue east to Cushing, Oklahoma. The pipeline will terminate at Gavilon's Cushing facility, where the joint venture will own 1 million bbl. of crude oil storage. Following pipeline construction, Rose Rock Midstream LP, SemGroup's master limited partnership, will serve as the pipeline operator.

Chesapeake entered into a long-term transportation agreement with Glass Mountain Pipeline to provide the economic incentive to construct the pipeline. The pipeline system is expected to meet growing and diverse midstream requirements resulting from drilling activity in western Oklahoma and the Mississippi Lime play.

Peregrine Midstream fast tracks Ryckman Creek Gas Storage

Ryckman Creek Resources LLC, wholly-owned subsidiary of Peregrine Midstream Partners LLC, started gas injections at its new high-deliverability, multi-cycle Ryckman Creek Gas Storage Facility in southwestern Wyoming near the Opal Hub. Construction of the 35 billion cubic feet (Bcf) facility started in late September 2011. First gas injections from Northwest Pipeline commenced on May 1, 2012, followed by gas injections from Overthrust Pipeline several days later.

Ryckman Creek will have interconnections with five interstate pipelines, all of which are connected to the Opal Hub, including Questar, Ruby, Kern River, Northwest and Overthrust. Gas injections from the various pipeline interconnections will commence in phases during the next few months as each interconnect becomes operational, until reservoir commissioning and pad gas injections have been completed this summer. Commercial operations are scheduled to start by September 1, 2012, with the first injections of customer gas.

"Even though we got a late start on construction last fall due to issues beyond our control, we have been able to keep the overall project on schedule, pulling some work originally scheduled for completion in 2013 into this year," said Darrell Poteet, Peregrine executive vice president of pipelines, surface facilities development and management. "We battled the Wyoming winter at 7,800 feet on the top of a mountain to achieve an in-service date that will allow our customers to start injecting gas this fall and withdraw gas this coming winter. This would have been a significant accomplishment in any weather, but especially so in freezing cold mountain-top conditions."

Ryckman Creek construction includes six injection and withdrawal wells; two re-entry observation wells and two re-entry and recompletion saltwater disposal wells; a central gas and liquids separation and processing facility; 4.8 miles of new 8-inch diameter storage field flow lines; nearly 4 miles of 16-inch diameter header pipeline; one unidirectional and four bi-directional pipeline interconnects and meter stations; and some 30,000 horsepower of electric-drive compression.

Initial working gas capacity for Ryckman Creek's first phase is 18 Bcf for the 2012 to 2013 gas storage season, which will increase to 25 Bcf by spring 2013 and 35 Bcf by spring 2014. A planned Phase II expansion will increase total working gas capacity to 50 Bcf or more, depending on market demand. Maximum Phase I injection capability will be 350 million cubic feet (MMcf) per day, with a maximum withdrawal capability of 480 MMcfd.

DCP Midstream Partners LP and DCP Midstream LLC announce management changes

DCP Midstream Partners LP (the partnership) and DCP Midstream LLC, the owner of the general partner of the partnership, said Rose Robeson, currently group vice president and chief financial officer of DCP Midstream, will be appointed to the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer of the partnership.

In conjunction with this move and as part of periodic rotational management changes within the overall DCP enterprise, Sean O'Brien, currently vice president of financial planning and analysis and treasurer of DCP Midstream, will be appointed to the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer of DCP Midstream.

Also, Scott Delmoro, who is currently in a developmental role in the commercial organization, will become vice president and treasurer of DCP Midstream. Delmoro also previously served as the vice president and controller of DCP Midstream.

TMK IPSCO welcomes new chief operating officer

TMK IPSCO, the North American division of global pipe manufacturer TMK, appointed Dave Mitch as senior vice president and chief operating officer, based at the company's headquarters in Downers Grove, Illinois. In this newly created role, Mitch will be responsible for all manufacturing, supply chain and quality functions within TMK IPSCO.

Mitch held several key leadership positions within the tubular industry, including executive vice president of Copperweld Tubular Products and vice president and general manager of Lone Star Steel Company. Most recently, he served as general manager at US Steel Tubular. TMK operates 24 production facilities, including those in Ambridge, Pennsylvania; Baytown, Texas; Blytheville, Arkansas; Brookfield, Ohio; Camanche, Iowa; Catoosa, Oklahoma; Geneva, Nebraska; Houston, Texas; Koppel, Pennsylvania; Odessa, Texas; and Wilder, Kentucky.

Voith Turbo hires new director of turbo machinery

Voith Turbo promoted Jim Kosalek to the new position of director of turbo machinery. The turbo machinery group primarily operates within the oil and gas production and transmission, petrochemical, and power-generation fields. As director, Kosalek will be responsible for organizing sales, application engineering, project management and aftermarket business across three product groups. Established in 1867, Voith is one of the largest family-owned businesses in Europe, with 40,000 employees, $7.4 billion in sales and 280 locations worldwide.

Universal Bioenergy's NDR Energy signs contract with largest gas utility in U.S. for storage

Universal Bioenergy Inc., which markets natural gas and propane and produces petroleum and coal, said NDR Energy Group, its subsidiary, signed an agreement for natural gas storage facility services with Southern California Edison, the largest natural gas distributor in the U.S. The gas distribution company supplies and delivers natural gas to more than 20.9 million customers on the West Coast. Its parent company, a Fortune 500 company, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, reported revenues of $10.0 billion in 2011, in its annual report.

NDR signed a master core secondary market services agreement with the gas utility under their park, loan and wheel program for gas storage services. Under the terms of the agreement the company, which owns and operates 134 Bcf of underground gas storage, will provide the storage facility. Universal / NDR Energy Group will purchase, supply and transport the natural gas from the gas fields to the facility. NDR Energy will sell the natural gas to meet seasonal load imbalances, engage in futures contracts and spot market sales, physical gas trading, financial gas trading, including hedging, and the use of natural gas derivatives and other financial instruments.

Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC appoints new president

Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC said Simon Dupéré has been appointed president and chief executive of the company, effective immediately. Concurrent with this appointment, Dupéré was also appointed to the board of directors of the company. Previously, Dupéré was the company's interim president and chief executive officer.

Dupéré has served as chief operating officer since September 2006. In that role, he directed field and facility operations at the company's Canadian and U.S. natural gas storage facilities, as well as its engineering and geosciences functions. Prior to joining Niska, Dupéré was the president and chief executive officer at Intragaz Inc., a natural gas storage company engaged in the development and operation of two natural gas storage projects in Quebec. Dupéré will continue to serve as Niska's chief operating officer in addition to his role as president and chief executive.

Niska also announced that Rick Staples, the company's senior vice president of commercial operations, has been promoted to executive vice president. Since joining Niska in May 2006, Staples served as Niska's senior vice president of commercial operations and has been responsible for the marketing, trading and commercial operation of Niska's assets. Prior to joining Niska, Staples served as director of gas storage with TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. from 2001 to 2006.

American Midstream Partners LP names new chief financial officer

American Midstream Partners LP said Daniel Campbell has been named senior vice president and chief financial officer of its general partner. Prior to his appointment to American Midstream, from 2006 to 2012, Campbell filled various leadership roles at MarkWest Energy Partners LP, most recently as vice president of finance and treasurer.

Prior to MarkWest Campbell served in various capacities at TeleTech Holdings Inc., headquartered in Denver, Colorado, including chief financial officer of TeleTech Latin America as well as senior roles in strategic planning, treasury, finance and investor relations. Campbell began his career at Arthur Andersen LLP. He received B.S. and Master's degrees in accounting from Brigham Young University. Campbell is a CPA licensed in Colorado.

TransCanada Corp. applies for permits for Keystone XL, again

In May, TransCanada submitted a new application for the Keystone XL pipeline project after changing the route to avoid environmentally sensitive land in Nebraska. The application requests permission to build the pipeline to move oil from tar sands in western Canada to a hub in Steele City, Nebraska. From there, the pipeline will connect to other pipelines operated by the company to carry oil to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

The new route will run eastward around the groundwater-rich Sandhills region before looping back to the original route. Previously President Obama denied the permit, drawing fire from Republicans and industry groups.