Louisiana

Sonat reported an unscheduled outage on Logansport Field Line 43 upstream of Logansport Compressor Station in the North Louisiana production area. As a result of the force majeure event, the pipeline said, no nominations from the Logansport Oxy R/S 4 receipt point were being accepted Friday until further notice.

FERC last week granted the first certificate for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in the United States in more than 25 years. Sempra Energy’s $700 million Cameron LNG terminal in Hackberry, LA, will take at least three years to build, but when completed will provide about 1.5 Bcf/d of deliverability into the Gulf Coast pipeline grid.

FERC on Wednesday granted the first certificate for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in the United States in more than 25 years. Sempra Energy’s $700 million Cameron LNG terminal in Hackberry, LA, will take at least three years to build, but when completed will provide about 1.5 Bcf/d of deliverability into the Gulf Coast pipeline grid.

With its latest liquefied natural gas (LNG) permits in hand for projects in Mexico and Louisiana, San Diego-based Sempra Energy appeared to have “first mover advantage” among the four or five serious proposals to site LNG receiving terminals along the Pacific Coast of North Baja California, according to report released Tuesday by Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB). Success of the LNG ventures could allow a major merchant energy part of Sempra to eventually raise its share of Sempra’s earnings to 15% in a company still dominated by two cash-cow utility companies.

Tennessee said a pigging of the Header and East Leg segments of the Blue Water System offshore Louisiana, previously scheduled to begin Aug. 11, has been canceled. The next pigging of Blue Water’s Header and East Leg is set for Sept. 8-11, during which producers may encounter higher than normal pipeline pressure. Physical flow will be interrupted at the South Marsh Island 76P for about 12 hours Sept. 8.

Cash prices inched a few cents higher across most of the country Friday in response to the rebound of gas futures above $5 on Thursday and slightly higher daily power prices. However, western spot points eased a few cents, and current western cash came more in line with forward prices, possibly allowing western storage injections to pick up steam.

With Tropical Storm Bill having departed the production area offshore Louisiana following a rather benign pass-through, air conditioning load not rising enough to make a meaningful difference, and the low-demand Independence Day weekend rapidly approaching, mild to moderate softening seemed appropriate Tuesday. The previous day’s overall gains were partially eroded by new numbers that ranged from flat to down a little more than 20 cents.

The Houston Exploration Co. on Thursday announced three natural gas discoveries in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The wells, which together are expected to produce about 35 MMcf/d, will begin ramping up this year, with the first well set to begin production in August.

Continuing with its plan to increase domestic production, Noble Energy Inc. said Monday that the Louisiana State Lease 340 No. 1 (Mound Point Prospect) has been drilled and evaluated to a measured depth of 19,024 feet. The company noted that evaluation of the logs and cores indicate that there are three middle Miocene aged sands with a total of 111 feet of net natural gas pay. Houston-based Noble Energy and its partners said they plan to complete the Mound Point Prospect well with production expected to come on early in the fourth quarter. Noble Energy holds a 24.98% working interest in the prospect. El Paso Production Co. is the operator with a 31.98% working interest, while ChevronTexaco Corp. has a 42.98% working interest. The remaining private partner owns 0.056%. Noble Energy also reported that it has recently spudded another deep shelf prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, Eugene Island 317. Eugene Island 317 is designed to drill to a total depth of 18,500 feet. Noble Energy is the operator with a 66.67% working interest with Spinnaker Exploration Company holding the remaining 33.3% stake. Although Noble Energy’s first quarter 2003 production volumes declined by 1% to 101,235 boe/d when compared to 1Q2002’s volume of 102,416 boe/d, the company’s 1Q2003 production was higher than that of 4Q2002, with overall volumes increasing more than 4% from 96,898 boe/d (see Daily GPI, May 1).