Bottleneck

The Energy Information Agency (EIA) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) both agree there is a bottleneck where the interstate and intrastate grids meet in California. However, the two agencies are miles apart on the size of that difference.

If the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality slows downthe permit approval process for companies eager to begin coal bedmethane projects in the state, the largest producers already thereare expected to have no trouble meeting their drilling schedulesthrough at least the first quarter of 2001. Anticipating thehearings, many had already moved proposed drilling projects for2001 through the regulatory process.

If the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality slows downthe permit approval process for companies eager to begin coal bedmethane projects in the state, the largest producers already thereare expected to have no trouble meeting their drilling schedulesthrough at least the first quarter of 2001. Anticipating thehearings, many had already moved proposed drilling projects for2001 through the regulatory process.

El Paso Natural Gas has given up on its first attempt tode-bottleneck the constrained Bondad System in the San Juan Basin(see Daily GPI, Oct. 19), but is approaching FERC again in hopesthat a second try will be more fruitful in adding capacity to apoint that some gas traders sarcastically call “Bondage.”