Balancing

Having outlined guidelines for balancing sage grouse and economic protections, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Monday said it will conduct a series of eight scoping meetings in Utah Jan. 17-Feb. 1 to gain feedback on an environmental impact statement (EIS).

Only a day after issuing them, Tennessee lifted two meter-specific Balancing Alert OFOs. The pipeline also said it continues investigation of a November rupture near Main Line Valve (MLV) 205-4 in Morgan County, OH, about four miles southeast of the city of Glouster (see Daily GPI, Nov. 21, 2011). Currently line 4 is isolated and Tennessee is maintaining a reduced pressure from Station 200 in Greenup, KY, to Station 219 in Mercer, PA. The Rockies Express (REX) interconnect flows into Line 4 between MLVs 208 and 209. To further evaluate the section between the valves, Tennessee was required to reduce the pressure there. Thus it was not accepting any nomination increases at the REX meter Tuesday and effective Wednesday until further notice will not accept any nominations at all from the REX meter.

Saying it needed to protect system integrity and due to excessive hourly takes exceeding scheduled quantities, Tennessee issued meter-specific Balancing Alert OFOs Monday affecting two LMSMA contracts (71054 and 943030). They are required to maintain an actual daily flow rate not exceeding 2% or 500 Dth, whichever is greater, of scheduled quantities.

Tennessee lifted Thursday an OFO Action Alert for all balancing parties in Zones 5 and 6.

January natural gas fell slightly at expiration Wednesday as traders see the market in a balancing act between holding technical support and withstanding a storage surplus that is not only wide, but continuing to increase. By the close January shed 2.8 cents to $3.084 and February eased 2.9 cents to $3.121. February crude oil fell $1.98 to $99.36/bbl.

Southern Star Central issued a System Critical Notice noting several restrictions on storage services and balancing that will take effect Tuesday. They include no Authorized Overrun Service for firm storage injections and no interruptible injections; see the bulletin board for details. Southern Star said an OFO could be issued as early as Tuesday to any customer that fails to comply with the restrictions.

Tennessee downgraded Friday the Balancing Alert OFO that it had declared specifically for three meters (see Daily GPI, Oct. 21) to an Action Alert OFO until further notice.

Although it lifted a meter-specific Balancing Alert OFO, Tennessee cited high temperatures across much of its system in saying a systemwide Imbalance Warning would become effective Wednesday. The action requires “all delivery and receipt point operators to match physical flow to scheduled volumes regardless of cumulative imbalance.” Later the pipeline also said that due to anticipated hot weather, it was issuing an OFO Action Alert for market-area Zones 5 and 6 that would take effect Thursday.

Southern California Gas declared a high-linepack OFO for Friday, setting the tolerance for positive daily imbalances at 10%.