Majeure

While Sabine Pipe Line continues to lift its force majeure on a few more Henry Hub interconnects each day, Cambridge Energy Research Associates’ (CERA) Kenneth Yeasting, director of Eastern North American Energy, wonders if too much emphasis has been placed on the Erath, LA, pipeline hub as the benchmark pricing point for North American natural gas market.

Plant operator Williams Field Services declared force majeure after the Opal Plant in Wyoming experienced an emergency shutdown due to a power outage about 5:25 p.m. MDT Thursday, but the plant outage ended around 1 a.m. Friday, according to a representative of Jonah Gathering System behind Opal. A WFS spokesman later confirmed that the outage didn’t last much more than six hours and operations were resumed immediately after the power was restored. However, WFS made this bulletin board posting Friday: “As a result of this situation field units across the system were knocked offline. Field technicians continue to work diligently to bring gas back onto the system. Nominations were kept whole for gas day 04/07/05; however, Williams will need to make up the interconnect pipeline shortfall by lowering the EFM tolerance going forward until the imbalance has been eliminated. Shippers should expect to see market cuts for the next several days.” Kern River was reporting low linepack Friday in its farthest upstream segment (Muddy Creek to Elberta), which a spokesman confirmed was a result of the Opal shortfall. Kern River encouraged shippers in that segment to resolve any due-pipeline imbalance paybacks.

Gulf South declared force majeure as it began performing unscheduled maintenance Thursday on its Index 129 segment south of Edna Compressor Station in Jackson County, TX. The work affects its ability to provide service at 17 area meters, Gulf South said. At first the pipeline expected to finish the maintenance by Saturday, but in a later update it revised the estimated completion to the start of Sunday’s gas day.

Tennessee declared force majeure Tuesday after identifying a leak on its 509A-300 line (the Southwest Leg of the Blue Water System) offshore Louisiana. Divers were being dispatched to assess the damage, the pipeline said, adding that it believes the leak is on a lateral (the 509A-400 line) off 509A-300, and if it can be successfully isolated only one meter (East Cameron 254B) would need to remain shut in. However, that meter and 14 others were required to shut in Tuesday until further notice. Tennessee said it was allowing nominations to remain in place for the Tuesday and Wednesday gas days, but shippers would be required to cut their nominations to zero at affected meters Thursday if they are still shut in. About 40,000 Dth/d is currently scheduled on this line under Tennessee’s capacity.

Tennessee declared a force majeure event Friday afternoon for meters on its 524C-600 Line due to a leak. The South Timbalier 54 meter offshore Louisiana was shut in for the duration of repairs, which was undetermined at that point.

CIG said work on a force majeure outage of Natural Buttes Station that began in late January (see Daily GPI, Jan. 28) is now expected to continue through March. The pipeline was able to raise operationally available capacity through the station from 80 MMcf/d to 120 MMcf/d shortly after the outage commenced. It set the total capacity for receipts at Uintah Station and Meter Station 101 at 135 MMcf/d Thursday until further notice.

Northern Natural Gas canceled Wednesday a force majeure declaration related to a mechanical problem with the #26 engine at its Palmyra (NE) Compressor Station (see Daily GPI, Jan. 26). “Operations personnel working through the night returned the engine to service,” the pipeline said. Also, the Demarc allocation that had been implemented for Wednesday’s gas day was lifted beginning with the non-grid process, it added.

Gulf South declared force majeure conditions Tuesday when it began unscheduled maintenance on its Index 381-23 segment that will last until further notice. The pipeline said the work will affect its abilities to make deliveries at the Vicksburg, MS citygate.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line declared a force majeure event on its mainline in New Jersey. The pipeline said it received reports about an odor and upon investigation discovered a leak on its mainline “C” on the Long Beach lateral in the Sayreville area of New Jersey on Tuesday. Emergency repairs are underway. The outage reduced deliveries by about 300,000 Dth/d, affecting three customers. New Jersey Natural lost some service but service was restored Wednesday evening, a Transco spokeswoman said. Several meters owned by PSEG, New Jersey Natural and LILCO, will remain out of service until repairs can be made over the next couple days.