Caused

Northwest reminded shippers that during the Jan. 4-6 period its market area experienced extreme cold that caused heavy drafting on the system, and the pipeline’s Jackson Prairie storage account dropped from 1.8 Bcf to 1.4 Bcf in those three days “even with the assistance of a few customers realigning their supplies.” Several weather sources have indicated that similar weather would again reach the market area beginning Sunday (Jan. 25), Northwest said. In addition, it will be conducting maintenance on the Columbia Gorge section of the pipe during the first week in February. To ensure system integrity and maintain adequate storage levels for the upcoming maintenance, Northwest declared a Stage III entitlement (with 13% tolerance for overruns for receiving parties north of the Kemmerer Compressor Station) effective Monday until further notice.

Winter storms and an OFO caused big price jumps Monday in the West, while freezing low temperatures in the Upper Plains and Midwest helped generate sizeable gains there and in the Midcontinent supply area. Elsewhere in the market numbers were mixed but mostly lower as the near-term forecasts remained relatively moderate for the end of December.

NOVA declared force majeure Sunday after a backhoe caused a line rupture on the 8-inch Hamilton Lake Mainline in eastern Alberta. The line was isolated and flows at Veteran Meter Station (typically just under 2 MMcf/d) and Hamilton Lake Meter Station (12.5 MMcf/d) were cut to zero until further notice.

While it remains unclear what exactly caused last month’s unprecedented blackout in the U.S. and Canada, a wide-ranging group of stakeholders last week said that if Congress is serious about preventing a similar catastrophe from happening again, federal lawmakers must make currently voluntary reliability standards mandatory for the power industry.

The fatal explosion on one of the mainlines of El Paso Natural Gas in August 2000 was caused by significant thinning of the pipeline wall due to “severe internal corrosion,” the three-member National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded last Tuesday, citing the natural gas pipeline’s inadequate corrosion-control program and lax oversight by the federal Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) as contributing factors.

Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System completed a pigging operation that caused a shutdown of the pipeline last week due to excess liquids (see Daily GPI, Oct. 23). The outage affected flows of about 115 MMcf/d. MOPS delivery nominations were being accepted again Friday for intraday scheduling.

Capitol Hill has wasted little time in calling for hearings and investigations into the events that led up to and caused the financial collapse of energy giant Enron Corp.

El Paso revised its schedule for North Mainline capacity reductions caused by continuing outages of Window Rock Station’s 5A and 6B units along with work on Line 1200 between Williams and Seligman Stations, Navajo Station inspections ordered by the federal Department of Transportation, and Leupp C and D Station modifications. The new dates and volume cuts (in MMcf/d) through the rest of this month are: Sept. 18-19, 150; Sept. 20, 300; Sept. 21-23, 55; Sept. 24-25, 65; Sept. 26-27, 170; and Sept. 28-30, 155. El Paso also postponed Line 1300 pigging between the Roswell and Caprock stations until Sept. 25-28, when San Juan Crossover capacity will be reduced by 50 MMcf/d.

The current increase in the availability of natural gas in the U.S. is caused 25% by an increase in supply and 75% by a decrease in demand, Chairman Mark Papa of EOG Resources said Tuesday in a financial conference call, continuing to project an increased supply response this year of only 1% to 1.5% relative to last year (see Daily GPI, May 10).