Hurricane

Despite the Bush administration’s request last week for $2.2 billion in additional funds for hurricane protection along Louisiana’s coast, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) said she would continue to block the nomination of Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne for secretary of Interior, as well as the nominations of other appointees who would influence the federal government’s energy and offshore production policies.

In an update to its hurricane damage assessment, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) sharply increased the number of pipelines listed as damaged by Katrina and Rita last year to 457 from 183 based on additional industry assessments and investigations. It also raised the number of large diameter pipelines (10 inches in diameter or larger) damaged to 101 from 64 but noted that 32 have now returned to service.

Trunkline said that as part of post-hurricane inspections required by the federal Minerals Management Service, it discovered that its lateral offshore Louisiana from Ewing Bank 305 to Grand Isle 82 apparently shifted from its pre-storm location. “At this time, Trunkline is unaware of any specific damage to the lateral,” the pipeline continued. “However, the nature of the observations requires that Trunkline reduce pressure on the lateral until further information can be obtained and analyzed.” Trunkline said it cut production on the lateral to zero, and until further notice no nominations are being accepted from Stone Energy’s Ewing Bank 305 platform.

Chevron Corp. expects to restaff its downtown New Orleans office by the end of 1Q2006. The 750 employees who worked there were evacuated when Hurricane Katrina struck the city last August. Melody Meyer, vice president of Chevron’s Gulf of Mexico business unit, said the move back to the city was a “key milestone” for the company. “There is a strong feeling of homecoming for the employees who have already returned. Having our employees once again working together in New Orleans provides a sense of return to normalcy.” Most of the company’s New Orleans-based employees continued to live and work in Louisiana following the massive storm. Many of those displaced worked out of a Chevron office in Lafayette, LA, where the company built a temporary housing complex for employees and their families. In October, Chevron opened a temporary office in Madisonville, LA, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

Citing a tight gas supply that has been exacerbated by hurricane-induced Gulf of Mexico shut-ins, PECO said sharply higher wholesale market prices have led it to impose an “unavoidable” 26% rate increase for its suburban natural gas customers. The utility said the rate hike will take effect Dec. 1.

Enterprise Products Partners said repairs were expected to be completed to its hurricane-damaged Toca natural gas processing plant in Chalmette, LA, and the entire facility back in operation by this week.

Enterprise Products Partners said Monday it is shooting to have the repairs completed to its hurricane-damaged Toca natural gas processing plant in Chalmette, LA, by the end of the week and to have the entire facility back in operation by next week. If the repairs aren’t finished this week, the return of the plant to full operation “would be delayed by a few days,” said spokesman Randy Burkhalter.

Shell Exploration & Production said Monday that it is committed to returning to New Orleans. Since Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath hit New Orleans in August, Shell has been working out of temporary work locations in Robert and Baton Rouge, LA and Houston, TX. The company said it will soon be returning to permanent offices in New Orleans, assuming the city is fully restored and able to support full operating needs. “We expect to have a substantial number of currently displaced New Orleans Shell employees back home and back at work in the city we cherish early next year and expect almost all to return in the Q1/Q2 timeframe,” said Marvin Odum, executive vice president – EP Americas.

While a significant amount of Gulf of Mexico natural gas production will be offline during the winter heating season as a result of post-hurricane damage, residential customer needs will be met due to the high level of demand destruction in the industrial sector that is anticipated, says a new study that was released by a major pipeline group last Wednesday.