Investigation

The investigation of three May 16 natural gas explosions and a fire in McKinney, TX, by the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) alleges six violations by Atmos Energy Corp. and two by contractor M.J. Sheridan Inc., according to a report released Tuesday.

Market Hub Partners Holding (MHP), a joint venture of Spectra Energy Corp. and Spectra Energy Partners LP, will add approximately 6.5 Bcf of working capacity at its Moss Bluff natural gas storage facility by developing a fourth cavern at the Liberty County, TX, site. The MHP system at Moss Bluff is a high-deliverability salt cavern storage facility with 15 Bcf of current working capacity. A permit for the cavern expansion has been secured from the Texas Railroad Commission, and the fourth cavern is expected to be in service in summer 2011, MHP said. The company will also upgrade surface facilities to provide increased interconnectivity to the interstate pipeline network. Construction of the facilities is expected to begin this summer with in-service as early as the first half of 2009. In late 2006 Spectra said it would expand its Gulf Coast salt cavern storage facilities by more than 35 Bcf over the next six years (see NGI, Dec. 11, 2006). Last year the company filed an application with FERC to add a fourth cavern at its Market Hub-Egan gas storage facility — a 20 Bcf high-deliverability salt cavern facility in Acadia Parish, LA — which would ultimately increase working gas capacity of that facility to 32 Bcf (see NGI, Feb. 26, 2007).

The Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) last week ordered an investigation of the safety practices of Northern Utilities following several high profile incidents in the last few months. The commission also wants to know how the natural gas utility manages its operations and maintenance program.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) Tuesday ordered an investigation of the safety practices of Northern Utilities. The commission also wants to know how the natural gas utility manages its operations and maintenance program.

CIG and WIC said that as part of a continuing investigation into the outage that began Sunday at the Cheyenne Plains Compressor Station (see Daily GPI, Sept. 18), it has been determined that there was no damage to the facilities of either pipeline and thus neither has a force majeure event in effect.

Northwest completed an anomaly investigation south of Muddy Creek Compressor Station and lifted the associated Declared Deficiency Period. The Muddy Creek South Constraint Point was reset to its north-flow design capacity of 513,000 Dth/d Friday. Due to a unit inspection at Caldwell Compressor Station, where Primary firm nomination requests exceeded the available capacity of 412,000 Dth/d, Northwest notified shippers of a Declared Deficiency Period at Caldwell for Friday’s gas day only.

The CEO of an Anchorage, AK-based energy services firm, VECO Corp., and another company official pleaded guilty last Monday to bribery and conspiracy charges arising from a federal probe into public corruption of Alaska politicians.

The CEO of an Anchorage, AK-based energy services firm, VECO Corp., and another company official pleaded guilty Monday to bribery and conspiracy charges arising from a federal probe into public corruption of Alaska politicians.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) Thursday ordered an investigation of Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) request to increase natural gas rates by $107 million, or 11%. The cash-strapped utility, which is owned by the city of Philadelphia, has become a political issue in the coming mayoral election, and some critics want it sold or taken over by the PUC.