Northern Natural Gas Co. announced a force majeure event on its Spraberry to Gaines County line near Midland, TX, because excavation was taking place near its pipeline.

Northern spokesman Michael Loeffler told NGI that the company was aware of ongoing installation of pipeline across its existing facilities in the area. However, he said, “…the excavator did not coordinate the excavation with Northern’s operations team. Since Northern was unable to monitor the excavation, it placed its safety procedures and pipeline integrity measures, including inspection of the line, into effect.”

It was not clear at midday Wednesday whether any damage to Northern’s pipeline had occurred.

“Reductions to scheduled quantities will begin with the Timely nomination cycle for [Thursday] Gas Day June 11, 2015,” the pipeline said in a customer notice.

“Deliveries in the Seminole Subsystem Allocation Group (#598) and Spraberry Group (#600) may not be greater than receipts in those groups. Receipts in the Mitchell to Gaines Group (#825) and Brownfield South (#998) will be limited during the outage as a result of the pressure reduction. Northern anticipates that primary firm delivery service will be impacted for the Seminole Subsystem Allocation Group (#598). Northern anticipates that primary firm delivery service for the Spraberry Group (#600) and primary firm receipt service for the Mitchell to Gaines Group (#825) and Brownfield South (#998) may be impacted as well.”

The pipeline said receipt volumes would not be affected.

“Following our safety procedures and out of an abundance of safety, Northern reduced the pressure of the line to conduct an inspection to ensure the line had not sustained any third-party damage,” the pipeline said. “Once Northern is satisfied that there has been no damage, or upon completion of any necessary repairs, the line will be returned to service. Initial inspections are expected to be completed June 11, 2015. The capacity impact to scheduled volumes, service type, and customers will be determined during the timely nomination cycle for gas day [Thursday] June 11, 2015.”