Inventory

Pacific Gas & Electric issued a systemwide Stage 3low-inventory OFO for today with penalties of $5/dth for negativeimbalances exceeding a 2% tolerance. It was projecting below-targetlinepack levels through Saturday.

Based on current withdrawal rates, working gas inventory andanticipated load forecast, Questar said Thursday it expects to go intocompressed withdrawal mode at the Clay Basin storage facility withinthe next three to seven days. This prompted concern by Northwest thatsuch an action will cause it “to begin to accumulate unmanageablelevels of condensate liquids at its Green River [WY] compressorstation similar to last year, when Questar had to reduce its confirmedquantities to Northwest” (see Daily GPI,Feb. 14, 2000; Feb. 23, 2000). Bothpipes said they are working together to manage liquids at GreenRiver. Questar noted that to mitigate future impact, it plans to builda dewpoint plant at Clay Basin. Permitting is under way andcompletion is expected in late summer, Questar said. A pipelinerepresentative said “compressed withdrawal” is the difference betweenfree flow, which is the normal operational mode for Clay Basin untilabout mid-January each year, and using compressors to suck gas out ofthe ground. Currently Clay Basin is about 32% full for thenon-Questar-contracted 54 million dekatherms held by seven or eightmajor customers including Northwest, he said. Using compression inwithdrawals heats the gas so it takes longer to cool down and for theliquids to condense out of it; thus the liquids tend to form afterit’s gotten out into the pipeline, he said.

Pacific Gas & Electric did not extend a systemwidehigh-inventory OFO (see Daily GPI, Oct. 23) beyond Saturday.

Pacific Gas & Electric expanded Friday’s customer-specific OFO(see Daily GPI, Oct. 20) into asystemwide Stage 2 high-inventory OFO Saturday with $1/Dth penaltiesfor positive daily imbalances exceeding a 5% tolerance.

Due to low inventory levels, natural gas and heating oil will bethe most vulnerable of all home heating fuels to potential priceshocks this winter if the weather should turn colder than normal,according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latestShort-Term Energy Outlook.

Due to low inventory levels, natural gas and heating oil will bethe most vulnerable of all home heating fuels to potential priceshocks this winter if the weather should turn colder than normal,according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latestShort-Term Energy Outlook.

Pacific Gas & Electric did not extend a systemwide Stage 3low-inventory OFO (see Daily GPI, Aug. 30) beyond Wednesday.

Pacific Gas & Electric issued a customer-specificlow-inventory OFO that takes effect today.

Pacific Gas & Electric issued a systemwide Stage 2 low-inventory OFO effective today. It has a very stringent tolerance of 1% for negative daily imbalances and penalties of $1/Dth.