Citing

Citing confidence in growth prospects, San Francisco-basedChevron Corp. said it plans to spend $5.2 billion this year. Still,that figure, which includes increased investment in Dynegy Inc., isless than estimated 1999 spending. “We’ll devote the majority ofour capital dollars to developing the high potential of ourextensive worldwide upstream portfolio, including recent propertyacquisitions in Thailand and Argentina,” said CEO Dave O’Reilly.

Citing anticipations of cold weather and operational conditions,MRT issued an OFO effective today until further notice. Thepipeline will interrupt all IT volumes and Authorized Overrun gasin excess of contract demand flowing north of the mainline’sGlendale (AR) Station. Firm customers must restrict mainlinevolumes to within their contracted zone entitlement and primarypath. MRT will have a zero tolerance for underdeliveries during theOFO but will continue to accept positive imbalance gas. The OFOsupersedes a System Protection Warning that took effect Wednesday(see Daily GPI, Dec. 15).

Due to freezing weather, Northern Natural Gas declared a SystemOverrun Limitation for all market-area zones Thursday.

Citing high storage inventories and declining injectioncapabilities related to high field pressures, CIG will implement anOFO taking effect today until further notice for all firmtransportation and storage customers. To relieve a “criticaloperational situation,” CIG is limiting No-Notice Transportation(NNT-1 and NNT-2) customers to an injection maximum of 1/250th oftheir contractual Maximum Available Capacity. Shippers with storageinventory exceeding MAC should initiate withdrawals to get withintheir allowable limits, the pipeline said. Although interruptiblestorage customers (IS-1) were not specifically part of the OFO,they were notified that injections are not available. In additionto the storage situation, CIG said, excessive positive imbalanceson FT contracts are threatening system integrity.

Citing high market-area demand, Florida Gas Transmission issuedan Overage Alert Day notice Tuesday for the segment east of Station12 (Santa Rosa County, FL). Daily negative imbalances exceeding atolerance of 5% are subject to penalty. The pipeline will evaluatesystem conditions again this morning before deciding whether toextend the OFO.

Citing a need to meet future growth in the region, NW Natural, agas utility serving 477,000 customers in Washington, announcedplans to build a 52-mile, 24-inch pipeline from its existingfacilities near North Plains, WA, to the Williams Gas Pipeline inMolalla, WA. The company said yesterday it has filed a notice ofintent with the Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC), a divisionof the Oregon Department of Energy. The total cost for the newpipeline, which NW Natural said would be complete by 2004, is $58million.

Citing a need to meet future growth in the region, NW Natural, agas utility serving 477,000 customers in Washington, announcedplans to build a 52-mile, 24-inch pipeline from its existingfacilities near North Plains, WA, to the Williams Gas Pipeline inMolalla, WA. The company said yesterday it has filed a Notice ofIntent with the Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC), a divisionof the Oregon Department of Energy. The total cost for theexpansion, which NW Natural said would be complete by 2004, is $58million.

Citing high linepack and storage limitations, Northwest said itis not allowing any on-system balancing or banking through the restof September. Both the Clay Basin and Jackson Prairie storagefacilities are nearly full even though the injection seasondeadline for 100% fills is Sept. 30, Northwest said. In addition,mainline capacity is “very limited” in accepting payback volumesdirectly to linepack, the pipeline added.

Citing significant market-area demand, Florida Gas Transmissionissued an Overage Alert Day notice Friday for the system east ofStation 12 (Santa Rosa County in the Florida Panhandle). A decisionon whether to extend the OFO was not due until Saturday morning.