Indicating

Noting that it has posted several shipper notices in recent weeks indicating that its system is experiencing high line pressure and linepack, Transco said Wednesday it is implementing an Imbalance OFO effective Friday with minimum penalties of $50/Dth. To avoid a penalty shippers must ensure that long imbalances (due-shipper) not exceed 5% or 1,000 Dth, whichever is greater. High utilization of firm services and various maintenance activities have resulted in reduced operating flexibility, Transco said.

The U.S. natural gas rig count is falling, as expected, but the horizontal drilling rig count has begun to markedly decline, with the Dec. 26 report indicating the largest single-week loss for the shale-directed rigs since 1991.

Forecasts indicating dwindling heating load in the Northeast and less cooling load in the western half of the South, abetted by the previous day’s drop of 23.6 cents by June futures, caused cash prices to sink at most points Tuesday. But although transport-constricted San Juan Basin numbers continued to fall, Rockies points recovered some of the major price ground they had yielded Monday.

A BP plc spokesperson on Tuesday confirmed a report in The Wall Street Journal indicating federal investigators are investigating whether the London-based oil major manipulated crude oil and unleaded gasoline markets in 2002, 2003 and 2004. BP already is facing allegations by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that it manipulated the U.S. propane market in 2004 (see Daily GPI, June 29).

Indicating that linepack is rising to undesirable levels, Texas Eastern said effective Wednesday until further notice it cannot accept requests for resolution of incremental due-pipe imbalances or creation of due-shipper imbalances. Customers need to resolve existing due-shipper imbalances, Texas Eastern said, adding that it will force balance TABS-1 pools or restrict the system as required.

Indicating that it may reopen the Weaver’s Cove LNG proceeding because of proposed changes to the project, FERC filed a motion in Boston’s First Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday asking for temporary suspension of the deadline to file the official record of the proceeding while it considers requests from the attorneys general of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board to reopen the case.

Impending fresh invasions of the northern U.S. by frigid air from Canada, along with forecasts indicating that the current cold spell will last through at least next week, helped push prices higher by mostly moderate amounts at a majority of points Wednesday. A few instances of flat numbers were also in the mix.

Indicating that Tuesday’s rebounds were something of a market aberration, prices reverted to falling at nearly all points Wednesday. The screen’s prior-day slide of 59.9 cents, the continued mildness of early January temperatures in most areas, and expectations of an unusually small storage withdrawal report were the primary influences in the renewed softening.

Indicating it believes competitive Western natural gas market opportunities require swift and unequivocal political and regulatory action, Sempra Energy late last month dropped out of a proposal for an all-Alaska pipeline-liquefied natural gas (LNG) project for bringing North Slope supplies to the lower 48 states.