Flow

El Paso Natural Gas has decided to postpone what it called”routine” maintenance projects on its system in order to maintainthe flow of natural gas into the California market to meet thesurge in demand there. The higher demand has been created by ashortfall in energy imports from the Northwest region, which hasbeen gripped by cold weather.

California regulators yesterday approved a settlement dealingwith Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s imbalance procedures andoperational flow orders (OFO). Regulators, however, did not act onthe much tougher issues included in the proposed interim andcomprehensive settlements filed earlier this year by SouthernCalifornia Gas (SoCalGas).

Midcoast Interstate Transmission’s (MIT) four-year effort toblock construction of Southern Natural’s North Alabama Pipeline iscoming to a close as the line is poised to start flowing gas. The120-mile, 70 MMcf/d mainline extension is seen as a threat by MIT,which has enjoyed a monopoly over transportation in that region foryears.

Midcoast Interstate Transmission’s (MIT) four-year effort toblock construction of Southern Natural’s North Alabama Pipeline iscoming to a close as the line is poised to start flowing gas. The120-mile, 70 MMcf/d mainline extension is seen as a threat by MIT,which has enjoyed a monopoly over transportation in that region foryears.

FERC announced yesterday it wants to hold a half-day publicconference Sept. 29 to address the “steady flow” of Congressionalinquiries into the Independence and MarketLink pipeline projects.The conference will be used to gather “supplemental information” onthe projects, but the Commission said it does not intend to reopenthe record on them.

After failing to completely fill a chart gap left from lastweek’s precipitous decline, the futures market slipped loweryesterday as bears were victorious ahead of weekly storage data.The October contract was hardest hit, suffering a 6.5-cent declineto finish at $2.612 amid average trading volume.

Swing gas for today-only flow generally was down a little fromlate-bidweek levels, but not in all cases. In fact, a Sumas traderfound his swing quotes running up to a nickel more than his Julybaseload deals. And even at the points where there were slightretreats, sources still viewed the aftermarket as starting offfairly strong. Despite a stagnant August screen Wednesday, the samething that caused end-of-June and late-bidweek run-ups was creditedfor the swing strength: oppressive heat almost everywhere that hadpower plants straining to handle the air conditioning load.

Mississippi Canyon Gas Pipeline last week won FERC’s blessingfor a firm capacity expansion to 800 MMcf/d from 600 MMcf/d.Mississippi Canyon — formerly Shell Gas Pipeline — operates a45-mile dual-phase line from the West Delta Block 143 “A” platformon the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Louisiana to terminus nearthe Venice Gas Plant in Plaquemines Parish onshore in Louisiana.The capacity increase is to come from establishing maximum receiptand delivery point pressures and installation of additionalmetering facilities on the pipeline’s existing system at the Veniceplant delivery point.

Prices continued to slump Friday by approximately the samedegree as they had Thursday. Declines for weekend flow ranged fromas little as a couple of cents to almost a dime, with most in theneighborhood of a nickel. Another screen drop was the maininfluence on cash, sources said, and even the forecasts of a newwinter storm developing over the weekend weren’t enough to avertmore softening.