Declaration

El Paso lifted Tuesday a declaration of a Strained Operating Condition for high linepack that had been issued Sunday. “Performance in the supply areas has improved and customer response has been sufficient to decrease…linepack to acceptable levels,” the pipeline said. It added that it also was ending a suspension of Interruptible Storage Service.

Columbia Gas said it was terminating Tuesday morning the declaration of a force majeure and OFO for Operating Areas 1, 4 and 10 that had resulted Monday afternoon from “operational events beyond its control” at the Strasburg (VA) and Seneca (WV) compressor stations.

With its projected linepack threatening to sink well below minimum target levels, Pacific Gas & Electric made a belated declaration of a systemwide Stage 2 low-inventory OFO for Wednesday on its California Gas Transmission system and extended the OFO through at least Thursday. The penalty for exceeding a negative daily imbalance tolerance of 5% was set at $1/Dth on both days.

Due to continuing declines in linepack from “receipt underperformance” despite its declaration of a Strained Operating Condition Wednesday, El Paso upgraded the OFO to a systemwide Critical Operating Condition (COC) Thursday. “Performance caps are being placed on all receipt locations that are supplying volumes at less than scheduled rates,” the pipeline said. Receipt shortfalls from San Juan Basin are in excess of 350 MMcf/d, while those in the Permian Basin exceed 300 MMcf/d, it added. “Shippers should immediately evaluate performance of their suppliers and insure that they are sourcing their supplies from locations that are capable of performing…Shippers taking gas above their scheduled quantities should immediately acquire additional supply or reduce their rate of take. There is transmission system capacity available at Waha and at interconnects downstream of Keystone if shippers determine that they need additional or different sources of supply to protect their markets.” El Paso continued to encourage payback of due-pipeline imbalances.

Pacific Gas & Electric followed up Tuesday’s customer-specific OFO with a declaration of a systemwide Stage 2 high-inventory OFO for Wednesday. It carried penalties of $1/Dth for exceeding a 5% tolerance on positive daily imbalances.

Northern Natural Gas canceled Wednesday a force majeure declaration related to a mechanical problem with the #26 engine at its Palmyra (NE) Compressor Station (see Daily GPI, Jan. 26). “Operations personnel working through the night returned the engine to service,” the pipeline said. Also, the Demarc allocation that had been implemented for Wednesday’s gas day was lifted beginning with the non-grid process, it added.

NOVA lifted Tuesday afternoon a force majeure declaration for the 8-inch Hamilton Lake Mainline in eastern Alberta (see Daily GPI, Sept. 9) and reinstated services at the Hamilton Lake and Veteran Meter Stations.

Zero tolerance for positive daily imbalances was in effect for Pacific Gas & Electric’s declaration of a systemwide Stage 2 high-inventory OFO for Saturday. Penalties were $1/Dth.