Experiencing

Following the roller-coaster ride that crude oil prices have been experiencing over the past few weeks, Salomon Smith Barney’s Robert Morris said that crude prices continue to be the “fulcrum” for exploration and production company stock performance. The analyst pointed out that E&P shares extended their retreat two weeks ago as both crude oil and natural gas prices dropped sharply.

Sonat reported experiencing an unscheduled outage Monday on the 10-inch Bayou Postillion Line in Louisiana. Repairs required that it isolate and blow down the affected section. Sonat declared a force majeure and OFO Type 1 in association with the event. Effective with Tuesday’s evening cycle and until further notice, it is unable to schedule gas from the Bayou Postillion #2-Anson #2 receipt point.

Sonat declared force majeure Wednesday after experiencing an unscheduled outage of the 12-inch Breton Sound Line offshore southeastern Louisiana. In order to make repairs, Sonat found it necessary to isolate and blow down about 15 miles of pipe. Gas was not being scheduled for Thursday’s gas day on the timely, evening and intraday 1 cycles from the Breton Sound 11, 18/19, 21, 32 and 36 receipt points. However, repairs were being completed Thursday afternoon, and Sonat canceled the force majeure and said it would begin accepting nominations at the five points again effective with the intraday 2 cycle for Thursday and the evening cycle for today.

Kern River reported being informed by affiliate Williams Field Services that Opal Plant was experiencing gas quality issues involving high water content at the tailgate. WFS was cutting Opal nominations in the Intraday 2 process Monday. The plant dropped 85 MMcf Monday from its normal throughput of about 740 MMcf/d, a WFS spokesman said, but the situation was improving Tuesday and any further loss was expected to be minimal.

Saying it was experiencing maximum withdrawals at the Washington Ranch storage facility, El Paso declared an Unauthorized Overpull Penalty situation Wednesday morning due to low linepack. Because of the OFO and high system demand, a maintenance shutdown of Line 1100 upstream of Guadalupe Station that had been scheduled for today was postponed until further notice.

Sonat reported experiencing an unscheduled outage Tuesday on its 10-inch La Rose Field Line in St. Martin Parish, LA. The pipeline declared force majeure and said no nominations will be scheduled until further notice at the La Rose Field Receiving Station. Only one producer with an “insignificant” amount of production was affected, a spokeswoman said.

Tennessee reported experiencing unanticipated delays in completing necessary pipeline modifications at the Yscloskey Gas Processing Plant, located near Main Line Valve 529 in southeast Louisiana. This delay does not impact available capacity on the 500 Line, Tennessee said, but the Eloi Bay meter will stay out of service until the modifications are finished. The pipeline anticipated being able to resume partial Yscloskey deliveries Thursday, and expects the plant to be processing about 600 MMcf/d around Sunday. It also hopes to complete the pipe modifications late Sunday, upon which full deliveries to Yscloskey for processing will resume and the Eloi Bay meter will return to service.

Tennessee reported experiencing unanticipated delays in completing necessary pipeline modifications at the Yscloskey Gas Processing Plant, located near Main Line Valve 529 in southeast Louisiana. This delay does not impact available capacity on the 500 Line, Tennessee said, but the Eloi Bay meter will stay out of service until the modifications are finished. On or about today, the pipeline anticipates being able to resume partial Yscloskey deliveries, and expects the plant to be processing about 600 MMcf/d around Sunday. It also hopes to complete the pipe modifications latee Sunday, upon which full deliveries to Yscloskey for processing will resume and the Eloi Bay meter will return to service.

Reporting that its Washington Ranch Storage Field was experiencing maximum withdrawals, El Paso declared an Unauthorized Overpull Penalty situation Tuesday. It urged shippers to review their supply/demand balances and the performance of their suppliers to insure that sufficient gas is delivered to El Paso to cover the gas being taken off-system. The pipeline said it will limit scheduled volumes at underperforming interconnects.