East

As a follow-up to its gas quality advisory posted Tuesday (seeDaily GPI, Feb. 28), NGPL listedWednesday 12 points on its Louisiana Line (east of Compressor Station302 in Segments 23, 24 and 25) that are currently exceeding thepipeline’s limit of 1,050 Btus per cubic foot on receipts. EffectiveMarch 1, nominations at those points will not be confirmed untilfurther notice “unless acceptable mitigating actions have beenarranged,”

Five groups on the Sonat system (Birmingham Group, South MainZone 2, Atlanta Group, South Main Zone 3 and East of Wrens) becamesubject to an OFO Type 3 Monday.

Unlike the East-West divergence in price movement thatcharacterized the first two trading days of the week, all marketswere on the same page Wednesday. Price increases ranged from abouta nickel to 20 cents, with most of them in the vicinity of a dime.

The thunderstorm formerly known as Hurricane Gordon moved toofar east too fast then slowed too much too soon to have much impacton the key U.S. oil and gas production areas off the Gulf ofMexico. By Monday afternoon, the evacuated offshore workers hadbeen returned to their rigs and power lost in Florida communitieshad been restored.

In light of expanding markets being served by El Paso NaturalGas’ South Mainline, East-of-California (EOC) shippers haveexpressed concern with the pipeline’s “Line 2000 Project” in whichit seeks to abandon six aging compressor facilities and replacethem with nearly 785 miles of converted line that would loop muchof its southern leg. The rub is that the proposed project,essentially a one-for-one swap, is not expected to create any newcapacity, yet El Paso is looking for its shippers to foot the tab.

In light of expanding markets being served by El Paso NaturalGas’ South Mainline, East-of-California (EOC) shippers haveexpressed concern with the pipeline’s “Line 2000 Project” in whichit seeks to abandon six aging compressor facilities and replacethem with nearly 785 miles of converted line that would loop muchof its existing system. The rub is that the proposed project wouldnot create any new capacity.

In addition to the California investigation, FERC deniedSDG&E’s request for an immediate broad $250/MWh price cap onall electricity sellers in California. The California utility didnot provide evidence that all potential sellers in the state havemarket power, nor did it show why a broad price cap would be anappropriate response, the order said.

If the new route variation that Millennium Pipeline Co. L.P. hasproposed for its facilities in Westchester, NY, were a Broadwayshow, it probably would open and close on the same night, criticscontend.

Mitchell Energy & Development’s gas production in NorthTexas is soaring. The company announced that its developmentprogram in the Newark East Barnett shale field is exceedingexpectations. In a little more than a year’s time, the company’sgross natural gas production in the Barnett field has doubled to172 MMcf/d. At this rate, Mitchell Energy will meet, and exceed itstarget growth of 15% this year.