Matagorda

Northern Natural Gas, the operator of offshore Texas Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS), said it was requiring the shut-in of all MOPS platforms by Tuesday afternoon due to potential hurricane activity in the Gulf of Mexico. Northern said it was beginning allocation of all scheduled MOPS volumes starting with the Intraday 1 nominations cycle for Tuesday’s gas day but anticipates a return to service Friday for those points based on forecasts of the storm’s path.

Northern Natural Gas, operator of the Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS), said Friday it was nearing the return of service on MOPS dehydration equipment at the onshore Tivoli, TX, facility (see Daily GPI, Oct. 22) and expected it to be fully operational for Monday’s gas day.

Northern Natural Gas reported late Tuesday that Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS), which it operates, had encountered an unexpected mechanical failure of the dehydration system on its onshore facilities near Tivoli, TX. “Crews are assessing the damage and determining the scope of repairs necessary to return the facility to service,” Northern said. Until then MOPS has been shut in, affecting 18 receipt points and seven delivery points (see the bulletin board for list).

Westport, CT-based NGS Energy LP subsidiary Tres Palacios Gas Storage LLC began commercial operation at its Matagorda County, TX, gas storage project on Wednesday, the company said.

Due to Hurricane Ike’s approach, Northern Natural Gas, operator of Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS), declared a systemwide force majeure Thursday and required all MOPS platforms to shut in. All receipt and delivery points were being allocated to zero flow effective with Evening cycle nominations for Thursday’s gas day. The force majeure will remain in affect “until all harmful affects of the hurricane have passed,” Northern said.

Westport, CT-based NGS Energy LP subsidiary Tres Palacios Gas Storage LLC said construction on its Matagorda County, TX, gas storage project is going according to plan and it has completed mechanical integrity testing (MIT) on the first of three caverns at the southeast Texas site.

Northern Natural Gas, operator of the Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS), said construction delays have changed its tentative schedule for restoring service on MOPS following a June 12 shutdown (see Daily GPI, July 20). Nine platforms are now scheduled to be reactivated during the gas days of Friday and Saturday for pressure testing of the system and bringing the mainline back to normal operating pressure. A pig launching from the Mustang 758 platform is set for Monday of next week to clear accumulated liquids. Nominations will be accepted for Monday’s gas day for the nine platforms that were activated to facilitate the pigging activity. The pig is expected to be received at the Tivoli (TX) Plant on or before Aug. 3, where the plant is expected to take a minimum of three days to process the liquids. All platform production will be shut in during the liquids processing. Once they have been processed, the MOPS system will return to normal operations. Currently that is expected to happen Aug. 7, Northern Natural said.

The Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System has determined that it does not have a leak on its 24-inch mainline (see Daily GPI, Aug. 5), operator Northern Natural Gas said. A force majeure situation on MOPS was canceled. NNG also said operational conditions on its East Leg had improved Friday, so it canceled a System Overrun Limitation for delivery points east of Belleville (WI) Station (see Daily GPI, Aug. 5).

Kinder Morgan said it is planning to double the size of its Markham storage field in Matagorda County, TX, to serve CenterPoint Energy Gas Services and potentially other customers. The expansion, which is expected to be completed in summer 2005, would add 6 Bcf of working gas capacity, 90 MMcf/d of injection capacity and 250 MMcf/d of deliverability.