Compressor

Citing continuing compressor repairs at Station 13, Northern BorderFriday extended a reduction of system throughput to 90% of summerdesign capacity (see Daily GPI, May 19)through Saturday and Sunday.

PG&E Gas Transmission-Northwest discovered contaminated oilin the lubrication system of its Stanfield (OR) Compressor Stationlate last week. The unit is out of service until the oil can bereplace; the pipeline estimates it will return on-line Thursday.Because the work has the potential for limiting Stanfield receiptsfrom Northwest Pipeline, PG&E GT-NW is offering a blanket ITdiscount of 1 cent plus fuel on the Starr Road-to-Stanfield paththrough Thursday.

Compressor damage is causing unscheduled maintenance on Unit Cat Station 5 (Athol, ID), PG&E Gas Transmission-Northwest saidMonday. At first a Kingsgate capacity limitation of 2,050 MMcf/dwas expected to begin today and last through Thursday, but lateMonday afternoon the pipeline said it was able to raise theKingsgate ceiling to 2,200 MMcf/d “due to unseasonably cool ambienttemperatures.”

Completion of the Unit #7 outage at NOVA’s Princess B CompressorStation, expected last week to be expedited to April 23 (see DailyGPI, April 14), has been extended to April 26.

El Paso estimates one of the two compressor units at its Caprock(NM) Station will return to service by April 16, raising San JuanCrossover capacity to 600 MMcf/d from its current 580 MMcf/d. Itappears the other unit will remain unavailable until mid-May, thepipeline said.

El Paso said Friday its Waha (TX) GE turbine is off-line againdue to a failed coupling on the field gas compressor. If expeditedtemporary repairs over the weekend prove successful, the pipelinesaid, the unit is expected to return to service around Wednesday.Otherwise, a new coupling will be available around April 6; anothershutdown would be required for its installation. The IMLWAHA pointis limited to 65 MMcf/d during the outage.

El Paso’s Waha GE will be down for emergency maintenance at 6p.m. today through Thursday, March 25, for field gas compressorbearing replacement.

Northwest said it would not issue an Operational Flow Order fortoday’s gas day even though repairs to Unit #1 at the Snohomish(WA) Compressor Station were continuing Wednesday. The pipelineexpected to complete the work by Wednesday night, but said an OFOstill might be possible should the maintenance continue throughtoday. Northwest credited cool weather and customer cooperation onbalancing with allowing it to meet demand for Sumas/SIPI gas overthe weekend. But with warming weather and continued high demand itis having difficulty meeting Primary Firm nominations without theSnohomish #1 unit

Transwestern said its La Plata compressor station will be downthrough Thursday, March 5, for construction. There will be zerovolumes flowing from the Ignacio area to the Blanco Hub.Interconnects affected are NWPL-La Plata, WFS Ignacio Plant, andAmoco Florida River Plant. Capacity from the Blanco Hub to Thoreauwill remain at 800,000 MMcf/d. The same scenario also will applyMarch 28 through 31, Transwestern said.