Installation

With installation of the Independence Hub production platform in the deepwater of the eastern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) now complete, Enterprise Products Partners LP said it will transfer control to Anadarko Petroleum Corp. as platform operator. The hub, expected to ramp up in the second half of 2007, will be capable of handling up to 1 Bcf/d, which would represent more than a 10% increase in gas deliveries from the GOM (see NGI, Oct. 23, 2006). The producer group is now in the process of installing flowline risers, which will transport production from the subsea wellheads to the hub, and Enterprise is installing the export pipeline riser that will transport natural gas from the platform to the 134-mile Independence Trail pipeline, which was installed in August 2006. Independence Trail will transport up to 1 Bcf/d of natural gas from the hub to the partnership’s West Delta 68 platform, which connects to a third party pipeline to deliver the gas onshore into Louisiana.

Tennessee said the completion date for installation of a pig launcher and receiver on the 334A-100 Line north of New York City has been delayed until July 3. The work, which requires the suspension of physical flow at the Con Ed White Plains meter and has seen several previous delays, most recently had been expected to wind up Tuesday, the pipeline said.

Northwest has scheduled installation of a filter/separator at its interconnect with Questar’s Clay Basin Storage Facility for April 27-28. Physical injections and withdrawals from or to Northwest will not be possible for those gas days, Questar said.

KeySpan Corp.’s gas distribution side posted a slightly larger seasonal loss in the third quarter compared to last year and a drop in exploration and production (E&P) earnings from its 67% ownership in Houston Exploration Co. The Brooklyn, NY-based company’s electric operations, meanwhile, were the star performer, leading to third-quarter consolidated earnings from operations, after subtracting for preferred stock dividends, of $3.6 million, or three cents a share.

El Paso said it was completing installation of pigging facilities on Line 1200 between Gallup Station and Valve City Wednesday. Work on the segment between Valve City and Window Rock Station is still in progress, but should be completed Saturday as originally scheduled. As a result San Juan Basin capacity was increased by 100 MMcf/d effective with Thursday’s Cycle 1 nominations. A capacity reduction of 135 MMcf/d on the North Mainline was to continue as scheduled through Friday. The pipeline also said Bowie Station turbine repairs have been more extensive than anticipated, a 50 MMcf/d capacity cut on the South Mainline at Waha will be extended through Aug. 31.

El Paso’s San Juan Basin capacity is reduced by 100 MMcf/d through Friday due to the installation of pigging facilities on Line 1200 between Gallup and Window Rock Stations. The work also cuts North Mainline capacity by 135 MMcf/d.

Undeterred by the combination of telecommunications and energy industry financial meltdowns this year, an affiliate of San Diego-based Sempra Energy still expects a slow but steady growth in its seven-patent-ending “fiber links” technology for threading fiber optic cable through natural gas distribution pipeline mains and service lines in dense urban commercial and suburban residential areas. The president and several other senior executives with Sempra Fiber Links were in Portland, OR, Monday at a national meeting of state regulators, pitching their system as being a fast, safe, less costly and environmentally more benign means of bringing fiber optics to commercial and residential areas that are among more than 90% of the nation that is still dependent on copper phone wires.

The installation of about 41,700 MW of new gas-fired power generation in the Southwest and California over the next three years and the potential addition of 5 Bcf/d of new pipeline capacity out of the Rocky Mountain region over that period could forever end the price depression currently occurring in the Rockies, several experts agreed last week.

On an emergency basis, California regulators Thursday approved the installation of real-time metering for San Diego Gas and Electric’s 4,700 largest commercial and industrial customers that don’t presently have real time metering as an aid to reducing electricity demand during peak periods this summer.