High Island Offshore System LLC (HIOS) said Monday it might seek to abandon compression facilities on its system to reduce the level of its firm certificated capacity. The notification on the company’s website follows the conclusion of an open season that drew no interest.

The open season began Oct. 5 and concluded last Friday. No bids for firm capacity were received, HIOS said.

“In light of the significantly reduced demand for firm service on its system, HIOS will now evaluate all of its options, which may include filing with FERC [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] for authorization to abandon its compression facilities and to reduce the level of its firm certificated capacity,” it said. “…HIOS is able to and will continue to provide service to its existing firm shippers using its existing facilities. HIOS will provide interruptible transportation service as capacity permits.”

HIOS is owned by Enterprise Product Partners LP and transports production from fields in the western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to downstream pipelines off the coast of Louisiana including ANR Pipeline and Tennessee Gas Pipeline, UTOS and Stingray.

In August a compressor fire on the HIOS system forced the shut-in of some GOM production (see Daily GPI, Aug. 6). A bypass later allowed the resumption of some gas flow (see Daily GPI, Aug. 14).

Work to repair the junction platform that was damaged is still ongoing, Enterprise spokesman Rick Rainey told NGI. He said the HIOS line had never flowed at its certificated capacity of 1.4 Bcf/d and had been flowing about 240 MMcf/d since before the platform fire in August. If Enterprise gets authorization to abandon compression from FERC and decides to proceed, it will not restore the compression capacity on the platform that was damaged by fire. Without the compression on the damaged platform, HIOS can flow up to 400 MMcf/d.

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