The amount of gas production shut-in offshore in the Gulf of Mexico fell again Thursday to 3.411 Bcf/d, compared with 3.518 Bcf/d a day earlier, and some struggling offshore producers were offered a new gas transportation and processing alternative by Discovery Gas Transmission LLC.

The Minerals Management Service estimated cumulative shut-ins now total 102.405 Bcf, equivalent to 2.806% of the annual 3.65 Tcf output. Meanwhile, shut-in oil production as of Thursday totaled 842,091 bbl/d, or 56.14% of the Gulf total.

About 35% of shut-in oil is the result of problems with onshore infrastructure, MMS said. Cumulative shut-in oil production since Aug. 26 is 21.372 million bbl, equivalent to 3.904 % of the yearly production of 547.5 million bbl in the Gulf. MMS also reported that 10.26% of 819 manned platforms and 1.49% of 134 rigs currently operating in the Gulf remain evacuated.

Discovery Gas LLC, owned by Williams Cos. and Duke Energy Field Services, is offering pipeline capacity for producers with gas stranded from the hurricane. The pipeline, operated by Williams, was flowing 280 MMcf/d on Thursday, which is 80% of its pre-Katrina volumes. Discovery Gas also has arranged to reverse flow on its Market Expansion unit to offer onshore processing services, specifically for Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGPL) and Columbia Gulf for gas flow into the Northeast.

The offer, which would impact flow into TGPL and Columbia beginning Friday, offers producers an option if they were using the damaged Venice and Yscloskey, LA, gas processing plants, which are operated by Dynegy Inc., or ExxonMobil Corp.’s Grand Isle, LA plant, according to Discovery Gas. The two gas processing plants, which are located where Katrina made landfall, are expected to take up to six months to repair.

The Discovery system has a gas processing plant at Larose, LA, with a capacity of up to 800 MMcf/d. Its fractionator in Paradis, LA, has a 42,000 bbl/d capacity. Throughput on the pipe is about 300 MMcf/d, with capacity up to 800 MMcf/d. Discovery’s facilities sustained only minor damage during the hurricane and have been in full operation since Sept. 3.

Producers’ damage assessments also continued to trickle in on Thursday, with Apache Corp. and Enbridge Inc. offering updates on their operations. Enbridge Inc., which has interests in five major offshore pipelines in the Gulf, reported some progress toward restoring its operations. The Stingray, Garden Banks and Green Canyon corridors have been assessed and are back in service delivering gas volumes at close to pre-hurricane levels.

“The lack of communications, which was a major problem immediately after the hurricane hit, was quickly rectified as telecommunications for the offshore pipeline control systems were switched to satellite channels to restore connections to the company’s natural gas control center in Houston,” Enbridge said.

However, the Mississippi Canyon pipeline system, which was in the direct path of the hurricane, is still not operating. Pipeline inspections, including a pipeline integrity test using an underwater side scan sonar, will be conducted within a week to check for abnormalities. Enbridge said it is in “frequent discussions” with the gas producers and Dynegy, the operator of the Venice, LA, gas processing plant, which is at the terminus of Mississippi Canyon.

Enbridge said it was working on contingency plans for Mississippi Canyon flows to bypass Venice, noting more than half of the flow on that system can bypass the plant if the damaged production platforms complete repairs and resume deliveries before the repair of the processing facility.

“Since Enbridge is dependant on disclosures by producers and the Venice processing facility on timing of repairs, the company cannot predict the duration of the downtime for the Mississippi Canyon corridor,” it said.

Its fifth pipeline asset, Destin Pipeline, is operated by joint venture partner BP plc. Destin received minimal or no damage, however, few volumes other than flows from interconnected onshore storage are moving on Destin because downstream oil and natural gas liquids pipeline facilities owned by others experienced damage and are not operational.

“Enbridge is currently transporting approximately half of the 2.7 Bcf/d of natural gas that we delivered from the Gulf of Mexico prior to Hurricane Katrina, including some gas nominated from onshore storage connected to the Destin corridor,” said CEO Patrick D. Daniel. “We’re also completing our assessment of the Mississippi Canyon pipeline system this week to be ready for startup when upstream production operations resume.”

Apache said it has restored 81% of its natural gas production and 65% of its oil production in the Gulf region, but repair and replacement of lost or damaged production platforms and third-party platforms “make it likely” that 60 MMcf/d of its gross-operated gas output and 20,000 bbl/d of gross-operated oil output may remain shut-in for up to a year.

The Houston-based producer has restored 459 MMcf/d of its gas production and 45,000 bbl/d of its oil production in the region hit by Katrina. With the restored production, Apache’s Gulf Coast region is now flowing 87% of its normal gross-operated gas volumes and 68% of its normal gross operated oil volumes. Apache expects to restore another 45 MMcf/d of gas and 4,000 bbl/d of oil by mid-October.

And finally, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday Katrina, the eleventh named storm of the hurricane season, was the most destructive to ever strike the United States. It first struck southern Florida on Aug. 25 as a Category 1 storm, then quickly re-intensified once it moved west into the warm Gulf waters, which were 2-3 degrees F above normal.

“Katrina’s sustained winds reached 175 mph (150 knots) and its minimum central pressure dropped as low as 902 millibars (a measure of a hurricane’s strength) — the fourth lowest on record for an Atlantic hurricane,” NOAA said in a report. “The storm’s intensity diminished slightly as it approached the central Gulf Coast, but Katrina remained a strong Category 4 storm, until landfall along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts on Aug. 29.

“Although its intensity at landfall was less than that of Hurricane Camille, which devastated coastal Mississippi in August 1969, the size of Katrina, with hurricane force winds extending 120 mph from its center, was much larger and the destruction more widespread than Camille. The associated storm surge reached as far east as Mobile, AL…Large parts of Biloxi and Gulfport, MS were covered with water as a result of a 20-to-30 plus foot storm surge that reached far inland.”

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