Note

Houston skyline watchers should note Transco Tower will berenamed Williams Tower. “The tower is a Houston landmark thatsymbolizes stability and innovation, two qualities that accuratelydefine our business at Williams,” said Cuba Wadlington Jr., generalmanager of Williams’ Transco pipeline system. Williams merged withTransco Energy Co. in 1995 and moved to the tower. Then, WilliamsCommunications Solutions, formerly known as WilTel, moved itsheadquarters there in August 1995. Today, Williams houses itsnational technical resource center at the tower and occupies 39floors. The tower is 64 stories tall and was built in 1982. It isthe tallest building in the United States located outside of adowntown area.

Capacity on Transwestern’s San Juan Lateral between Ignacio, COand Blanco, NM will be limited to about 525 MMcf/d during a one-dayemergency shutdown test and maintenance outage May 11 at BloomfieldCompressor Station. Normal capacity of about 800 MMcf/d will resumeMay 12. Transwestern suggested the Blanco and Window Rock points onEl Paso to shippers as alternate options for gas flow out of SanJuan during the Bloomfield outage.

Cash prices finished the week on a positive note as continuedincremental heating demand and a strong futures market bolsteredprices Friday. Trading was very active from the outset, a Gulftrader told Daily GPI. “There were some undeniable factors pointingto higher cash prices. Overnight gains in Access trading set thetone, then the over the counter market verified the strength,” heexplained. So it came as no surprise when the first cash offerswere a nickel or more above Thursday’s averages. But the marketcould not sustain the price rally and after buyers had filled theirrequirements at around 9:45 CST, seller realized their lowestprices of the day in late morning dealings.

Replacement of its A-Line north of Stanfield, OR, is keepingKingsgate capacity of PG&E GT-NW limited to 2,250 MMcf/d-370MMcf/d under the April norm-through Friday. Hydrostatic testing ofthe line at Station 6-A will further limit Kinggate to 2,190 MMcf/dApril 19-22.

Florida Gas Transmission reported completion of lowering its30-inch mainline at Station 7.5 in South Louisiana ahead ofschedule and has commenced lowering the 24-inch mainline. This workis expected to limit St. Landry volumes to 910 MMcf/d-65 MMcf/dbelow maximum-through April 10.

It was business as usual last week at the New York MercantileExchange as the market continued its tug of war, pitting storagebears against bottom-seeking bulls. And just as the case has beensince the middle of 1998 when the downtrend began, it was the bearswho were dominant, pulling optimistic buyers dangerously close tothe mud in the middle. But just when even the most time-weatheredbulls were ready let go of the rope, the market managed to fumblehigher in lethargic Friday afternoon trading. The April contractfinished up 1.2 cents for the day at $1.699.

Florida Gas Transmission plans a smart pig run April 5-9 betweenStations 2 (Robstown, TX) and 3 (Port Lavaca, TX). The project willlimit capacity at these interconnects upstream of Station 3:Duke-Robstown (40 MMcf/d), Valero Nueces (35 MMcf/d) and MOPS (75MMcf/d).

Northwest Pipeline’s preliminary investigation indicates thatland movement affecting about 500 feet of pipe was the cause of aline break Friday night near Stevenson, WA (see Daily GPI, March 1,2). Following industry practice, Northwest will send segments ofthe pipe for metallurgical testing to verify the rupture’s causeconclusively. A temporary 16-inch surface pipeline is beinginstalled to restore service to LDC Northwest Natural Gas in theNorth Bonneville, WA, area. Northwest Pipeline said it is workingwith geotechnical experts to plan permanent re-routing of theruptured 26-inch line outside the boundaries of the land movementarea.

While the March Nymex futures contract began Friday’s tradingsession on yet another up-note, a late sell-off brought it backdown to settle 2.9 cents lower on the day. The spot month went upas high $1.875, where it flirted with crossing over the 40-daymoving average, only to finish the day at $1.80.