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Because the Gallup Electric Compressor Station will not be available for the April 11 gas day, Transwestern will allocate the San Juan Lateral to about 700,000 MMBtu/d. The Blanco-Thoreau segment of the lateral had been expected to be up to 800,000 MMBtu/d of capacity by now following a five-day total outage earlier this month (see Daily GPI, March 28), but compressor problems have been causing daily allocations. Northwest cautioned shippers that Transwestern’s allocations “could still cause back-ups on Northwest.”

Because of inclement weather hampering maintenance near ANR’s Alden Compressor Station in Kansas, the end date has been extended through April 17. The work, which is reducing Southwest Mainline capacity by 53 MMcf/d (leaving 634 MMcf/d available), previously had been scheduled to end Wednesday (see Daily GPI, March 25). Based on current nominations, the reduction may result in curtailment of IT and Firm Secondary nominations, ANR said.

Because of moderating weather in its market area, NGPL canceled Tuesday an advisory posting that took effect Sunday (see Daily GPI, March 10) and limited hourly delivery takes.

With wholesale gas prices for March and April nearly triple what prices were for the same months in 2002, there is very little that can be done to prevent some impact on utility customers. Despite forward purchasing, storage and other risk management practices, Mobile Gas in Alabama said its residential customers still will see a 22% increase in their rates.

El Paso Corp. was in the unenviable position of being the most traded common stock on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday because investors were continuing a sell-off. The company’s stock dropped a little over 22% to $3.65. The market overall was down on war fears, and other energy companies took a hit, but not in the same league as El Paso.

British energy giant BP said Tuesday it expects to report a decline in fourth-quarter earnings because of weaker-than-expected performance by its refining and marketing division. The news came a day after BP announced $1.3 billion in asset sales in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. In a brief interim update on fourth quarter financial and operating statistics, BP said U.S. gas price realizations are expected to rise slightly ahead of the change in Henry Hub prices. However, the overall refining, marketing and trading environment deteriorated relative to the third quarter of 2002. Liquids realizations are expected to be broadly in line with last quarter. But chemicals margins are expected to weaken as prices lagged the rise in feedstock costs. Demand remains sluggish, BP said. Hydrocarbon production is expected to be up about 3% and 1.5% for the full year and 4Q, respectively, compared with 2001. North American NGL margins are expected to be slightly lower than in the third quarter. Retail margins are expected to be down from 3Q02 due to seasonal declines compounded by significant crude price increases at year-end. All these financial data, however, are subject to change and may differ considerably from the final numbers that will be reported on Feb.11, BP said.

Because Congress has not yet passed a fiscal year 2003 appropriations bill for the Department of Transportation (DOT), the agency’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) said it will assess and collect safety user fees from natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines based on fiscal year 2002 funding levels for now, and then later in 2003 will assess any increases in the fees that are authorized by lawmakers.

Because Congress has not yet passed a fiscal year 2003 appropriations bill for the Department of Transportation (DOT), the agency’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) said it will assess and collect safety user fees from natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines based on fiscal year 2002 funding levels for now, and then later in 2003 will assess any increases in the fees that are authorized by lawmakers.

BC Gas Inc. said its earnings were up 40% for the first nine months of 2002 to C$49.8 million or C$1.17/share mainly because of its acquisition of Centra Gas British Columbia Inc (see Daily GPI, Jan. 2). However, the company reported a third quarter loss of C$19.1 million or C$0.44 per share compared to a loss of C$22.3 million or C$0.58 per share in 3Q2001.