Failure

Compressor failure has cut Fidlar Station capacity to 90,000-100,000 Dth/d until Nov. 21 or further notice, Questar said. Shippers may reduce adverse scheduling impact by using the TransColorado delivery point, it added.

The TransQuebec & Maritimes (TQM) unit of TransCanada declared a force majeure to the parent pipeline company effective for the Sept. 3 gas day due to a compressor failure at TQM’s East Hereford Station in Quebec near the New Hampshire border. As a result, TransCanada said Thursday it has issued its own force majeure declaration to firm shippers delivering to East Hereford “in the unlikely event that firm curtailments will be required.” TransCanada added that it does not anticipate any restrictions of firm service to East Hereford unless operational conditions or nomination levels change substantially. Discretionary service restrictions, including diversions, to East Hereford may be necessary, TransCanada said. The expected duration of the outage is unknown, it said.

Due to a storm-related power failure Monday afternoon at the Opal Plant, operator Williams Field Services said it planned to make Cycle 4 nominations cuts of 200-250 MMcf “from a current delivery nomination of 1,014,275 Mcf.” However, a WFS spokesman said the power outage lasted only about three hours and that Gas Control had reported a sendout of close to 1 Bcf that day, so apparently any curtailments were minor. No constraints were in effect Tuesday for Opal nominations of about 900 MMcf/d, he said.

NGPL said the start of integrity testing on its mainline Segment 2 where a pipe failure occurred earlier this month (see Daily GPI, Aug. 13) has been delayed by one day to Friday instead of Thursday as previously planned. The testing is still expected to last approximately six weeks. As it progresses, various receipt points will become unavailable for receipt of gas into the pipeline. Once a point is impacted, it may remain unavailable until the entire Segment 2 has been returned to service, NGPL said. However, the actual in-service dates for each point may vary depending on the progress of the testing. See the bulletin board for a schedule of points being shut in and related transport restrictions.

NGPL shut in two receipt points in the immediate area shortly after identifying a mainline failure in Caddo County, OK shortly before 1 p.m. CDT Friday. No injuries or significant physical damage to the surrounding area have been reported, according to the pipeline. It said it would use its “operational flexibility to minimize the impact to shippers for today’s [Friday] gas day and most likely for future days.” The incident resulted in a few transportation constraints; see the bulletin board for details. No delivery points were being impacted Friday, the pipeline said, but delivery points along the A/G Line (Segments 15 and 17) “are at a slight risk of being impacted.”

Despite the development of Tropical Storm Bill in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, natural gas futures turned only modestly higher Monday as bulls appear to be still reeling from last week’s very steep price downdraft. The August contract closed at $5.411, up 4.9 cents for the session and in the middle of the contract’s 13-cent trading range Monday. At 45,356, extremely light estimated volume was evidence of the lack of consensus surrounding the day’s trading activity.

Questar said Friday it had experienced mechanical failure on a compressor at the Oak Springs Station. Nominations through Saturday there were reduced to 175,000 Dth/d, which is the level that can be physically delivered to Kern River-Goshen (formerly Elberta; see Daily GPI, May 1), Questar said. It was not known Friday how long the unit would be down for repair.

In what might have been the most bearish 0.4-cent increase in recent memory, natural gas futures inched higher Monday in a session marked by technical wrangling. Selling was seen at the open and again in the afternoon by funds and local traders. Most of the morning meanwhile, was the domain of bulls as short-covering lifted the market just shy of Thursday’s $5.83 high. The May contract finished at $5.713, up .04-cents for the session, but more than a dime off its $5.82 high for the day.

While repairing an equipment failure at the Castle Valley CO2 Plant, Questar decided to inspect and repair additional equipment as a preventative measure. To facilitate the work, a plant outage originally scheduled for Feb. 11-12 will be extended through Feb. 13-14. The plant is expected to return to service at a reduced processing level of about 70,000 Dth/d for the Feb. 15 gas day. Because no processing will be available during the Feb. 11-14 period, Questar will work closely with upstream producers to maintain gas quality within tariff specifications. Equipment removed during the shutdown is scheduled for reinstallation during the last week of February, after which the plant is expected to return to normal service. No plant shutdown is required and no customer impact is expected during this installation, Questar said.