Obligations

FERC has approved Southern Natural Gas Co. LLC’s (SNG) request to abandon nearly 20 miles of pipeline and associated facilities in Alabama to comply with a correction action order issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to address the hazards associated with wrinkle bends, which led to a failure on SNG’s system in late 2009.

A group of companies in Ohio that raised nearly $10 million from investors for oil and natural gas development projects has filed for bankruptcy and has agreed to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a $4.5 million judgment.

U.S. shale gas plays continued to make a substantial contribution to the country’s natural gas production, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday in a report that cited supply gains last month. However, a declining rig count signals that production declines are on the way, the agency said.

Strong growth in the total marketed production of natural gas last year — an estimated increase of 4.8 Bcf/d (7.9%) compared with 2010 — was driven in large part by increases in shale gas production, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

It may take some time before fewer drilling rigs and curtailed output make a dent in domestic onshore natural gas production. Dry gas production skyrocketed 11.6% in January from a year earlier to 2,047 Bcf gross, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. on Monday unveiled a strategy to help fund its spending obligations this year, which may include the outright sale of its Permian Basin portfolio, as well as other asset sales and joint venture (JV) partnerships, that together could reap $10-12 billion.

Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., whose onshore operations are focused on three shale plays — the Marcellus, Eagle Ford and Haynesville/Bossier — said Tuesday it smashed quarterly production records in 3Q2010, with output hitting 36 Bcfe, which was a 41% jump year/year. Sequential production also rose 18%, exceeding guidance targets.

Transco reported that “insufficient receipts to meet delivery obligations on the Mobile Bay Lateral have resulted in significant imbalance and pressures that do not support normal operations on the lateral.” These “significant operational difficulties” mean that the pipeline may be required to issue an OFO for Zones 4A and 4B, Transco said. It urged customers to resolve existing due-pipeline imbalances or Operational Balance Agreement party imbalances.

In a weekend update to shippers with Must-flow OFO obligations south through the Kemmerer (WY) Compressor Station, Northwest said Sunday’s scheduled nominations northbound through Kemmerer were 694,434 Dth, or 29,434 Dth above the operationally available capacity. “The total volumes Northwest can call upon from Realignment shippers continue to decline as Realignment shippers bring on more supply from receipt points north of Kemmerer,” the pipeline said. “As a result, Northwest was less than 5,000 Dth/d away from issuing individual notices to Must-flow shippers.” Northwest said that if primary firm nominations continue to exceed the operationally available capacity and the volumes subject to a Realignment OFO continue to decline, it will issue individual notices to Must-flow shippers to nominate from receipt points north of Kemmerer to delivery points south of Kemmerer.