Extended

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) offeredPacific Gas and Electric half a loaf again last week, extendingfrom three months to six months its authorization for the utilityto sign gas supply contracts securitized by gas customer revenue.Meanwhile, not satisfied with their handiwork on the electric side,California politicians said they might have to get into gaspurchasing to shore up new generation requirements.

Repairs on an A-Line leak at the GPM/NNG Farnsworth receipt point(see Daily GPI, Feb. 7), affecting15,000 MMBtu/d, have been extended, Northern Natural Gas saidWednesday. The work, formerly expected to be completed Wednesday, nowlikely will last until Saturday, NNG said.

Northern Natural Gas issued a System Overrun Limitation noticeaffecting all market area zones for today’s gas day.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has extended for another weekhis earlier emergency order requiring generators and marketers tomake power available to the California market to avoid the threatof rolling blackouts. The order, which was first issued on Dec. 14,expired Tuesday at midnight (Pacific time). The new order willremain in effect until Dec. 27, unless modified.

After struggling through an extended state approval process thatwas only revitalized earlier in the year with a uniquemobile-source air emissions credit deal, San Francisco-basedPG&E Corp. Monday completed a deal to sell the development andoperating rights for its proposed 500 MW Otay Mesa power projectsouth of San Diego to Calpine Corp., San Jose, CA, the aggressivemerchant power plant developer.

Florida Gas Transmission once again extended an OFO but loosenedthe tolerance for negative daily imbalances to 15% Thursday afterhaving tightened it to 5% Wednesday (see Daily GPI, Dec. 7).

Alliance Pipeline conceded last week that its commercialin-service date will have to be delayed for the third time, thistime until the end of November, because of continued problems withdebris in the pipe and trouble getting the enormously complexcomponents of the system working in sync (see NGI, Sept. 11; Oct.23). The 1,900-mile project originally was supposed to be inservice Oct. 1.

Alliance Pipeline conceded yesterday that its commercial in-servicedate will have to be delayed for the third time, this time until theend of November, because of continued problems with debris in the pipeand trouble getting the enormously complex components of the systemworking in sync (see Daily GPI,Sept. 11; Oct. 23). The 1,900-mileproject originally was supposed to be in service Oct. 1.

Transwestern extended through at least Saturday the force majeureassociated with a freight train derailment near its mainline innorthwest new Mexico (see Daily GPI, Nov. 2). The derailed cars have beenremoved but harsh weather delayed the start of pipe inspection untilFriday, a spokeswoman said. Crews were hoping to restore servicebetween Stations 5 and 6 Sunday, she said. A capacity constraintremained in effect going into the weekend, but it had been reducedfrom 400,000 MMBtu/d to 300,000 MMBtu/d.