Force

CIG declared a force majeure condition Friday at its Elk Basin Compressor Station located on the Wind River Lateral in Park County, WY. A compressor engine had to be taken out of service for repairs. CIG estimates that the outage will last at least 30 days. It anticipates being able to flow 47,000 Dth/d through the station, but said any impact to service will depend on any given day’s nominations.

Westcoast declared a force majeure Tuesday at its McMahon Gas Plant after “MEA [monoethanol amine] solution foaming increased dramatically” during Monday evening and Tuesday morning. The foaming reduced McMahon raw gas treatment capacity from 630 MMcf/d to 437 MMcf/d as of Tuesday afternoon. Westcoast said it was acid washing affected MEA contactors, and expected to have full processing capacity restored this morning.

ChevronTexaco Corp. informed the Securities and Exchange Commission last week that it has started to lay off 7% of its work force, or about 4,000 employees out of a total of 57,000, as part of a program designed to trim $1.2 billion/year in overhead following its merger. The cuts are in line with what the companies expected last year when their merger was first announced.

ChevronTexaco Corp. informed the Securities and Exchange Commission this week that it has started to lay off 7% of its work force, or about 4,000 employees out of a total of 57,000, as part of a program designed to trim $1.2 billion/year in overhead following its merger. The cuts are in line with what the companies expected last year when their merger was first announced.

While some experts expect the economic slowdown to shave significant gas demand from the market this winter, Raymond James & Associates believes there will be a substantial shift toward greater year-over-year gas demand comparisons by mid-December. The investment bank said that high prices last winter drove about 8-10 Bcf/d of demand out of the market in the first quarter of 2001. At least half of that demand should be back by the first quarter of 2002, it said.

Salt Lake City-based Questar Corp. went out to bid earlier this month on four new compressors to complete its conversion work on the east-of-California portion of its 705-mile Southern Trails Pipeline from the San Juan Basin to the Long Beach port area of Southern California. The portion of the converted oil pipeline between the California border and the Four Corners Area in New Mexico will open June 1 next year, a Questar spokesman said.

While some experts expect the economic slowdown to shave significant gas demand from the market this winter, Raymond James & Associates believes there will be a substantial shift toward greater year-over-year gas demand comparisons by mid-December. The investment bank said that high prices last winter drove about 8-10 Bcf/d of demand out of the market in the first quarter of 2001. At least half of that demand should be back by the first quarter of 2002, it said.

Senate leadership canned an attempt by Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-OK) to force a vote on the adoption of energy legislation as amendments to the defense authorization bill. Inhofe had submitted Sen. Frank Murkowski’s energy bill and the House energy legislation (H.R. 4) as prospective amendments to the $340 billion defense spending bill.

Senate leadership canned an attempt by Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-OK) to force a vote on the adoption of energy legislation as amendments to the defense authorization bill. Inhofe had submitted Sen. Frank Murkowski’s energy bill and the House energy legislation (H.R. 4) as prospective amendments to the $340 billion defense spending bill.