Florida Gas Transmission lifted Saturday an Overage Alert Day that had been in effect for the previous two days.
Informed
Articles from Informed
Sempra CA Utilities File General Rate Case Notice
Sempra Energy’s two California utilities last Tuesday informed the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that they will be jointly filing a 2008 test year general rate case by Dec. 1, seeking a decision from regulators by the end of next year. Senior executives from the company downplayed the potential earnings impact of the case on a second-quarter conference call with financial analysts Thursday, stressing continued strong earnings from the utilities.
Transportation Notes
Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline in the United States (Maritimes US) reported being informed by the operator of the Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP) that a shutdown of SOEP processing facilities is now scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. CDT Friday and continue through June 7. The outage previously had been planned for May 26-31 (see Daily GPI, May 11). Maritimes US said it understands that no supply will be available from SOEP during this period, so due to limited operational flexibility it will not be allowing any due-shipper imbalance resolution or creation of due-pipe imbalances.
MARAD Says Blanco’s Objections to LNG Project May Violate Federal Law
The Maritime Administration informed Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineau Blanco last week that her reasons for vetoing McMoRan Exploration’s Main Pass Energy Hub liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal offshore Louisiana earlier this month may violate federal law.
Transportation Notes
Texas Eastern noted that in a letter dated Nov. 10, 2005, it had informed all firm storage customers that it would monitor storage activity and, if necessary, issue customer-specific OFOs to those who exceeded their recommended maximum withdrawal limits. The first period in the recommended withdrawal plans ended Dec. 31, and on Wednesday Texas Eastern issued five customer-specific OFOs, that will take effect Jan. 9. The orders require an affected customer to deliver its contract’s firm transportation MDQ (Maximum Daily Quantity) “under Rate Schedules CDS, FT-1 and SCT, as applicable, in the most downstream zone of delivery to the maximum extent contractually feasible prior to utilizing storage services.” Texas Eastern said the OFOs will be canceled when customer inventories are restored to planned levels.
Mirant May Sue Southern for $1.95 Billion in Damages
Bankrupt power company Mirant Corp. informed the U.S. Bankruptcy Court last week in an amended reorganization plan and disclosure statement that its board has authorized the filing of litigation against former parent company Southern Co., seeking about $1.945 billion in damages related to payments made in connection with Mirant’s initial public offering (IPO) and spin-off in 2001.
Transportation Notes
Sonat reported being informed that Enterprise Operating Partners LLC had experienced an unscheduled outage at its Toca 1 processing plant in southeast Louisiana, and the Toca 2 plant is currently unavailable due to scheduled maintenance. Based on the latest information received from Enterprise, Sonat said Tuesday, Toca 1 will return to service sometime Wednesday. The pipeline said its dehydration facilities were activated and it was blending the gas stream via storage withdrawals at TGP-Toca, but customers should expect to see a richer gas stream in the market area, primarily on the south system, over the next 48 to 96 hours. Because of the anticipated short duration of the plant outage and projected gas quality during that time, Sonat did not expect to issue a Hydrocarbon Dew Point Limitation Notice.
Transportation Notes
Kern River reported being informed of a force majeure situation on the Jonah Gas Gathering System behind the Opal (WY) Plant. The Jonah posting was quoted as saying the force majeure event began late Friday and continued through Monday due to a failure of the after cooler heat exchanger at the Luman #1 compressor. “Due to length of downtime, Jonah’s deliveries to Opal were below scheduled nominations” on the above dates, including Cycle III cuts for Monday’s gas day, according to the Jonah notice. Despite the Jonah producers expecting the force majeure to be extended through Thursday because of a delay in receiving the replacement unit, a spokesman for plant operator Williams Field Services said Opal operations haven’t been materially affected. The plant was expecting about 974 MMcf/d of throughput Monday, he said, which is close to the normal 1 Bcf/d or so.
Transportation Notes
ANR reported being informed by owners and/or operators of the processing plants that service its Southeast Area that based on their current analysis of processing economics for April, most will not process gas unless the pipeline issues a gas quality requirement. Thus ANR is establishing a hydrocarbon dew point limit of 20 degrees Fahrenheit for Southeast receipts, effective April 1-30. Meters delivering into ANR that exceed the dew point limit and are upstream of a processing plant must have their gas treated. “Evidence of a valid processing arrangement with a downstream processing plant must be made available to ANR upon request,” the pipeline said. ANR will post the hydrocarbon dew point for all Southeast receipt meters delivering into its system. It had taken the same action for March (see Daily GPI, Feb. 27).
Barton Expected to Replace Tauzin as Chairman of House Energy Panel
Rep. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-LA) informed the House leadership last Tuesday that he will retire from Congress by the close of the year, ending his nearly 24-year career on Capitol Hill, and will relinquish his position as chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee effective Feb. 16.