In the wake of the Sept. 16 fire at the Cheyenne Plains Compressor Station, Cheyenne Plains Gas Pipeline said it has found itself between a rock and a hard place as it attempts to “satisfy competing and currently incompatible goals.”

Cheyenne Plains said it seeks to honor firm transport commitments to the maximum extent possible under the circumstances, and it also wants to accommodate its shippers’ desire to maximize gas flow out of the Rocky Mountains for the public benefit.

An “equipment fire” in the Cheyenne Plains Compressor Station had completely cut off deliveries to Cheyenne Plains from Wyoming Interstate Co. (WIC) and Colorado Interstate Gas (CIG) (see Daily GPI, Sept. 18). The fire resulted from the release and subsequent ignition of gas when the flange connections associated with a relief valve on the suction side of the station’s compression failed. When the fire was detected, all compression in the Cheyenne yard was shut down, including that serving CIG and WIC. Subsequently, the compression facilities serving CIG and WIC were able to return to service.

Deliveries went from 780,000 MMbtu/d to zero after the fire on Sunday. Subsequently, some deliveries were resumed. According to Bentek Energy, which tracks pipeline gas flows, nominations on Cheyenne for Thursday were 405,505 MMBtu, and 415,000 MMBtu on Friday.

“Although damage assessments of the Cheyenne Plains facilities are continuing, it is clear that a significant amount of instrumentation and electrical wiring was damaged in the fire and will need to be replaced. This includes most of the cable trays and associated electrical wiring. Some nearby yard piping and valves appear to need replacement as well,” the company said.

“During this outage, the volume that Cheyenne Plains can move is directly dependent on the pressures available from receipt interconnects,” the pipeline, which is owned by El Paso, said. “The sustainable operating pressure that can be supplied by Colorado Interstate Gas and Wyoming Interstate Company has been determined to be 980 PSIG. Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) can currently deliver at pressures up to 1,050 PSIG at the Crazy Bear interconnect. In addition, the Yuma Lateral compressor can deliver gas at pressures sufficient to enter the pipeline at flow rates up to design capacity. The vast majority of primary firm receipt rights on the west end of the pipeline are currently located at CIG and WIC receipt locations. To honor firm transport commitments to the maximum extent possible, Cheyenne Plains has calculated a maximum available operating capacity of 415 MMcf/d at the Cheyenne Plains East (CPE) constraint point, based on a design using firm receipt rights at a pressure of 980 PSIG at the WIC and CIG interconnects to Cheyenne Plains.”

Cheyenne Plains said it realizes that shippers want to maximize Rocky Mountain production. During the present force majeure situation, the pipeline said that objective could be accomplished by maximizing primary firm receipts from the REX Crazy Bear interconnect because such receipts are available to Cheyenne Plains at a higher pressure. At a Crazy Bear pressure of 1,050 PSIG, Cheyenne Plains’ free flow capacity calculated at CPE increases to approximately 490 MMcf/d. “We have not been able to use this higher capacity for scheduling during this force majeure event because shippers currently do not have substantial primary firm receipt rights at Crazy Bear today,” Cheyenne Plains explained.

Given that some shippers have already requested that their primary firm receipt rights be moved to Crazy Bear, Cheyenne Plains said it is announcing a number of initiatives:

Cheyenne Plains will make an informational filing at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission containing this same information. Cheyenne Plains does not believe that any tariff modification or waiver is required to implement these measures. However, if FERC orders any modification, Cheyenne Plains said it will comply with the FERC mandate.

For more information, visit the Cheyenne Plains’ bulletin board.

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