Inlet

In the bush around the Norman Wells inlet to the most northerly oil conduit on the continent, six producers have snapped up 8,998 square kilometers (3,473 square miles) of drilling rights leases by pledging to spend C$534 million on exploration over the next nine years.

In the bush around the Norman Wells inlet to the most northerly oil conduit on the continent, six producers have snapped up 8,998 square kilometers (3,473 square miles) of drilling rights leases by pledging to spend C$534 million on exploration over the next nine years.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave a favorable environmental review of Perryville Gas Storage LLC’s proposal to construct a salt dome natural gas storage facility and associated facilities in the Crowville Salt Domes in Franklin and Richland parishes in northern Louisiana. The facility would provide approximately 15 Bcf of working capacity in two caverns, with a maximum injection rate of 226 MMcf/d and a maximum withdrawal rate of 600 MMcf/d, according to Houston-based Perryville Gas. Plans call for interconnections with CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission and Columbia Gulf Transmission near Delhi, LA (see NGI, June 15). In addition to the two caverns, Perryville Gas proposed to build 11.69 miles of 36-inch diameter gas pipeline; 2.68 miles of 24-inch diameter pipeline; a 9,500 hp compressor station; and associated facilities in Franklin and Richland parishes. The company asked FERC to issue a final order by Dec. 1 and grant it a construction period of five years. It said it expects to have the facilities in service by June 2012.

El Paso had scheduled its Alamo Lake Station to be down Jan. 31 to change inlet scrubber and fuel filters. But because the units have tripped several times recently, the project has been accelerated to occur Friday. It will reduce capacity of the Havasu Crossover by 150 MMcf/d. The work will coincide with a scheduled outage of Line 1208 on the North Mainline to mitigate overall impact.

Due to high acid gas volumes at the inlet of Pine River Gas Plant impacting some shippers’ firm entitlement/production, Westcoast reduced the plant’s acid gas capacity volume Thursday morning to about 91.4 MMcf/d until further notice.

Westcoast took its McMahon Plant off-line at midafternoon Sundayfor unplanned repairs to the inlet facility. Authorized volumes forSunday’s gas day were cut in half. A force majeure declaration forMcMahon was lifted early Monday morning.

NGC Corp. has replaced a combination of Vastar, Washington GasLight and Cook Inlet Energy Supply in managing the natural gassupply, transportation and storage for the City of Richmond, VA.

The Canadian inlet to the proposed Portland Natural GasTransmission System has received approval from the National EnergyBoard, in time for completion on schedule this Nov. 1. Titled thePNGTS Extension, the route will be built by Trans Quebec &Maritimes Pipeline Inc. from a connection with the TransCanadasystem in eastern Quebec at Lachenaie to an exit into New Hampshireat East Hereford.