Finished

TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. finished repairs of the second rupture point on its Nova system Thursday morning and put the stretch of pipe back into service. The two line breaks occurred early last week in a remote section of Alberta, shutting down the 36-inch pipeline and approximately 465 MMcf/d of the 750 MMcf/d throughput. Only 285 MMcf/d was getting through with both ruptures, according to TransCanada spokeswoman Hejdi Feick. After the first rupture was fixed Saturday, the pipeline was moving 313 MMcf/d, she noted, adding that the pipes current throughput was not known yet. While some producers shut in gas during the down time, others turned to alternative shipping channels such as the Alliance Pipeline. TransCanada PipeLines’ preliminary investigations have indicated external corrosion was the likely cause of the ruptures (see Daily GPI, Dec. 5).

Natural gas futures finished higher Thursday as bear traders were unable to use another larger-than-expected storage injection (32 Bcf) to their advantage. Though selling was seen immediately following the 10:30 a.m. EST storage report, it failed to press the market below what has become very stubborn support in the low to mid $4.60s. The market rebounded as a result, led by the December contract, which climbed back above unchanged and eked out a 5.8-cent gain to finish at $4.797.

Despite overbought conditions and forecasts calling for warming temperatures, natural gas futures finished the week on a positive note Friday as traders bid the market higher in sympathy with cash prices that remain at a premium to futures. There also was apprehension of the release of potentially bullish storage data Thursday. However, the gains were a winter-month-only phenomenon, as advances in February and March were in sharp contrast to losses throughout the rest of the contracts.

Legislation to improve the safety and security of pipelines finished its long road through the U.S. Congress Thursday and was on its way to the president, who is expected to sign into law new rules for pipeline inspection and employee training, increased penalties for operating violations, establishment of a nationwide one-call system and protections for whistle-blowers (H.R.3609).

Legislation to improve the safety and security of pipelines finished its long road through the U.S. Congress last Thursday and was on its way to the president, who is expected to sign into law new rules for pipeline inspection and employee training, increased penalties for operating violations, establishment of a nationwide one-call system and protections for whistle-blowers (H.R.3609).

With a fourth expansion set to be finished this summer, Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. utility unit earlier this month completed three other expansions of its transmission/storage system. Collectively the enhancements will boost SoCal’s system by 11% or 375 MMcf/d.

After plumbing to a new 29-month prompt month low last week, natural gas futures finished on a neutral note Friday with a modest decline in the front month, contrasted by slight up-ticks in the out months. The October contract closed at $2.103, down 3.4 cents for the session, but off its new life-of-contract low notched Thursday at $2.03. Meanwhile, the 12-month strip posted its second-straight positive close, gaining 0.8 cents to $2.836.

Texas Eastern said it had finished valve repairs on its Venice Lateral in the East Louisiana Zone (see Daily GPI, July 26) and brought the line back into service Thursday morning, allowing affected production to resume at scheduled volumes. Shipper imbalances incurred during the brief outage may be made up through the end of the month, Texas Eastern said.

After funneling lower for most of the week, natural gas futures finished on a positive note Friday, amid a late flurry of trading and speculative short-covering. Just when it appeared that futures would head listlessly into the weekend with its fourth straight down day, the market erupted higher in the last 85 minutes of trading, propelling the May contract to a 2.7-cent gain at $5.128.