Maintenance

Excess ethane inventories are being worked off as maintenance at petrochemical facilities is completed. Ethane inventories are expected to decline for the remainder of the year while petrochemical plants operate at high utilization and rely upon ethane as their primary feedstock, Oneok Partners President Terry Spencer said during an earnings conference call Wednesday.

The Interior Department’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) has fined Denver-based producer QEP Resources Inc. $1.2 million for the “knowing or willful maintenance” of inaccurate oil and natural gas royalty and/or production reports on ONRR’s financial system.

The Ohio House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted in favor of an energy bill that also creates new rules for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state. The bill is to be sent to Gov. John Kasich for his signature.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) four-year, $2.2 billion plan to boost the safety and maintenance of its natural gas pipeline system is being more aggressively defended by executives, who have called for California regulators and major gas utility pipeline operators to work more cooperatively to implement a comprehensive upgrade to the intrastate gas pipeline network.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) four-year, $2.2 billion plan to boost the safety and maintenance of its natural gas pipeline system is being more aggressively defended by executives, who called Tuesday for California regulators and major gas utility pipeline operators to work more cooperatively to implement a comprehensive upgrade to the intrastate gas pipeline network.

Citing unplanned engine maintenance at Buttermilk Compressor Station in its Southwest Gathering Area, ANR said based on high line pressures and current operating conditions it was required to reduce receipt nominations at its CenterPoint interconnect in the area to zero Tuesday through Dec. 10.

In what one of the utilities has designated as a “new era” in natural gas transmission pipeline safety and maintenance programs, California’s two major utility pipeline operators for thousands of miles of intrastate, high-pressure pipelines told state regulators Monday that there are still gaps in some of their pipeline recordkeeping in high-population areas such as the San Bruno neighborhood that was devastated by a pipeline rupture last September.

CenterPoint shippers are no longer under an Operational Alert that began last Tuesday due to unscheduled maintenance in the Perryville Hub area, the pipeline said Friday. The work previously had been expected to last until Saturday (see Daily GPI, Dec. 16).

Northwest noted that during Dec. 1-15 maintenance at Pocatello Compressor Station, operational capacity at Kemmerer Compressor Station will be limited to 675,000 Dth/d. Since current primary firm scheduled quantities through Kemmerer exceed this capacity, Northwest said Monday afternoon it is issuing a Recall Advisory and declaring an OFO that will take effect Wednesday until further notice for shippers who have an OFO obligation (contract-specific, realignment and/or must-flow) through Kemmerer. See the bulletin board for advisory/OFO details.