CenterPoint (formerly Reliant) issued an Operational Alert to notify all shippers and pool managers that with storage levels nearing maximum capacity, as of Thursday’s gas day they must avoid long imbalances. Otherwise, “such imbalances can exacerbate [CenterPoint’s] current operational problems and may result in the future assessment of Excess Contract Quantities penalties or the issuance of OFOs.”

Effective until further notice, Sonat on Thursday began posting an OFO Type 6 probability update around 2 p.m. CCT daily. The pipeline said it is providing these additional updates “due to low demand, the current economic incentive for shippers to create long imbalances, and recent unscheduled outages that have occurred on compressor units at the Bear Creek Storage Field.” Separately, from Thursday through the end of the month, Sonat does not expect to accept nominations for due-pipeline imbalance makeups. It also reminded customers of storage field shut-in tests scheduled Oct. 7-20 (see Daily GPI, Sept. 25), during which firm storage service will be reduced and it is unlikely that some interruptible services will be scheduled.

Repairs at the East Hereford (PQ) Compressor Station on the TransQuebec & Maritimes (TQM) system (see Daily GPI, Sept. 12) are complete and the unit is expected to remain in service and fully operational, TQM parent firm TransCanada said Thursday. As a result, related force majeure declarations by TQM and TransCanada have been lifted.

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