FERC issued three delegated orders Wednesday that will allow Iroquois Gas Transmission System LP to amend existing negotiated rate agreements with two customers for a few natural gas delivery days in December. Among 15 delegated orders issued, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission waived the 30-day notice requirement for revised tariff records with Trafigura AG (Docket No. RP14-291) and J.P. Morgan Ventures Energy Corp. (Nos. RP14-292 and RP14-293). According to FERC, a Trafigura contract set revised rates for service under Iroquois’ interruptible rate schedule HUB, while a separate contract did the same with J.P. Morgan. The revised tariff records covered Dec. 13-16 for Trafigura, and Dec. 14-16 for J.P. Morgan. The orders were issued by FERC’s Nils Nichols, director of Division of Pipeline Regulation.

Last week’s polar vortex led to record sendouts for Piedmont Natural Gas, which provides natural gas to one million residential, commercial, industrial and power generation utility customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Piedmont’s 2.41 million Dth sendout on Jan. 7 exceeded by 30% the company’s previous winter season single-day record sendout of 1.86 million Dth set on Dec. 13, 2010. Cold that clamped down on much of the country last Tuesday also prompted constraints on pipelines into New England and throughput at a central Alabama gas utility was running at 10-year record levels (see Daily GPI, Jan. 7). Piedmont said that six of its top eight single-day sendouts ever have occurred since Nov. 13, 2013.

Canyon Midstream Partners LLChas begun development of a natural gas gathering, processing and treating system in the Permian Basin called the James Lake System. The project is anchored by a 10-year gathering and processing agreement with “one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies,” the company said. The system is to include a cryogenic processing plant in Ector County with an initial capacity of 70 MMcf/d and treating capabilities for gas containing hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. To supply the plant, Canyon is developing 40 miles of high-pressure gathering trunklines and three compressor stations, which will connect to low-pressure field gathering systems it is constructing for its anchor customer in Ector and Andrews counties. When completed in late 2014, the James Lake System will deliver residue gas into the El Paso Natural Gas pipeline and offer interconnections to multiple natural gas liquids pipelines in Ector County. “Ultimately, we expect the current James Lake project will be the first phase of a distributed and integrated gathering and processing system in the Permian Basin…” said Canyon President Michael Walsh.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has authorized Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. to abandon capacity it leased on Dominion Transmission Inc.‘s system between Ellisburg and Leidy, PA, and granted Dominion authorization to reacquire the capacity [CP13-545-000]. FERC first authorized Tennessee to lease up to 150,000 Dth/d on the Dominion system in 2002. The lease agreement was designed, in part, to facilitate the movement of gas from upstream supply points at Niagara and Dracut, MA, and from the Gulf Coast to new markets at Leidy, which is in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. FERC made the abandonment authorization retroactive to Sept. 30, 2013, as had been called for in both the original lease agreement and the application for authorization to abandon capacity, both of which were filed jointly by Dominion and Tennessee. The companies said no customer would lose service by Tennessee’s abandonment of the leased capacity.

Dallas-based Southcross Energy Partners LP said its South Texas operations continued to grow during the fourth quarter. Processed gas volumes increased by about 13% over third quarter volumes, and sales volumes of natural gas liquids were about 28% greater. “Southcross enters 2014 with solid operational performance, and we believe we are well-positioned to focus on expanding our assets in the Eagle Ford Shale,” said David Biegler, CEO of Southcross’ general partner. The partnership’s South Texas assets are between Houston and Freer, TX, and have access to the Corpus Christi ship channel market. They consist of 1,595 miles of pipeline with an estimated capacity of about 590 MMcf/d, two fractionators, two gas treating plants and about 40 compressors. Southcross also has operations in Mississippi and Alabama.