Issuing

Florida Gas Transmission followed up on a Tuesday warning of a potential Overage Alert Day by actually issuing one Wednesday, citing forecasts of 90-degree weather in its Florida market area. The tolerance for negative daily imbalances was set at 25%.

As the energy sector lines up to begin issuing its quarterly reports in the coming weeks, North American-based exploration and production (E&P) companies are expected to top earnings estimates because of higher oil and natural gas prices. In the second quarter, which ended June 30, crude oil futures jumped almost 40% and gas futures rose almost 30%.

Taking the rare step of issuing an OFO on the morning of its implementation, Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) declared a high-linepack OFO on the Intraday 1 nominations cycle for Wednesday. The giant LDC said it would assess Buy-Back charges in accordance with its rules and tariffs to customers who delivered more than 110% of their actual gas usage on the OFO day. The OFO was extended with the same conditions through Thursday.

Citing cold weather conditions, MRT said it is issuing a System Protection Warning (SPW) effective with the start of Tuesday’s gas day. MRT will not schedule volumes that result in a daily short imbalance position. “If actual deliveries exceed scheduled volumes, shippers may be required to add supply intraday or reduce their takes from MRT,” the pipeline said.

Both of California’s two biggest distributors waited until Friday afternoon to declare high-linepack OFOs for Saturday. After issuing a stringent Stage 3 OFO earlier in the week, Pacific Gas & Electric made the latest one more lenient at Stage 2, with $1/Dth penalties for exceeding a 16% tolerance on positive daily imbalances. Southern California Gas said it will assess Buy-Back charges in accordance with its rules and tariffs to those exceeding a 10% tolerance.

Pacific Gas & Electric stepped up the intensity of its Operational Flow Orders, issuing a systemwide Stage 3 high-inventory OFO for Saturday carrying penalties of $5/Dth for exceeding a 5% tolerance on positive daily imbalances. Normally PG&E’s high-inventory OFOs are Stage 2 with $1 penalties.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin last Tuesday took the next step in implementing her Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) by issuing a request for applications from companies for an exclusive license to build a $30 billion-plus pipeline to bring Alaska North Slope natural gas to market.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Tuesday took the next step in implementing her Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) by issuing a request for applications from companies for an exclusive license to build a $30 billion-plus pipeline to bring Alaska North Slope natural gas to market.

After cautioning Tuesday that it might need to do so soon, Florida Gas Transmission followed up by issuing an Overage Alert Day for market-area customers Wednesday, noting forecasts of warmer weather in central Florida and low linepack. The tolerance for negative daily imbalances was set at 25%. The pipeline said it would not interrupt any previously scheduled market-area ITS-1 service for Wednesday’s gas day.