Border

Northern Natural Gas, which had implemented System Overrun Limitations (SOL) last Friday for all market-area zones and for the New Market, MN, #1 Town Border Station and then extended them through the Saturday-Monday period, said Monday it was extending the SOLs again through at least Tuesday.

Northern Natural Gas issued System Overrun Limitations, effective Friday, for all market-area zones and for the New Market, MN, #1 Town Border Station. No System Management Service will be available, Northern said.

Northern Natural Gas extended System Overrun Limitations (SOL) for all market-area zones and for the New Market, MN, #1 Town Border Station through Friday “due to continued cold temperatures.” Previously the pipeline had scheduled the SOLs only through Thursday (see Daily GPI, Jan. 13).

Pacific Gas & Electric did not extend a systemwide high-inventory OFO beyond Saturday.

With Hurricane Dolly holding its anticipated course and impacting Texas near the Mexico border Wednesday afternoon (see related story), traders resumed their pounding on the energies Wednesday as front-month natural gas futures closed below $10 for the first time since April 11.

More aggressive bidding was just one of the themes that emerged during the record-breaking Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 206, according to consultant Wood Mackenzie.

Southern California Gas began maintenance Tuesday on Line 225 that will last through Thursday and is reducing available border delivery capacity at Wheeler Ridge by 780 MMcf/d to 100 MMcf/d. Additionally, storage withdrawal capacity has been reduced by 1 Bcf/d and injection capacity has been cut by 250 MMcf/d at the Honor Ranch facility.

Citing “very cold weather projections in the Pacific Northwest over the next few days and record low throughput volumes across the Canadian border,” Northwest declared a Stage II (8%) Overrun Entitlement for Receiving Parties on the Wenatchee Lateral and a Stage III Overrun Entitlement (13%) for all other Receiving Parties located north of the Kemmerer (WY) Compressor Station for the gas days of Wednesday and Thursday. Northwest said its tariff provides that an Overrun Entitlement will subject a receiving party to penalties if the party’s takes of gas exceed its confirmed nominations by more than the allowed threshold percentage. Northwest said it “encourages customers to secure adequate supplies from Canadian supply sources during this cold period.”

Reno, NV-based Ormat Technologies, Inc. announced Thursday it completed a series of four recovered energy generation (REG) plants along the Northern Border Pipeline in North and South Dakota that will produce approximately 22 MW for Bismarck, ND-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative. Basin has a 25-year power purchase agreement with Ormat that was announced last year.