Panhandle

Pacific Gas & Electric did not extend a high-inventory OFO beyond Wednesday.

Panhandle Eastern said an additional unscheduled outage for a top-end overhaul at Liberal (KS) Station’s Unit 317 began Tuesday. This coincides with the original outage to replace a crankshaft on Liberal Unit 315, which has been extended through October, the pipeline said. Operational capacity through Liberal has been reduced to 800,000 Dth/d through the end of September, increasing to 900,000 Dth/d Oct. 1.

Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line has extended an open season for a proposed pipeline expansion and extension of its Muncie Lateral until June 11. The company is planning to add 500 MMcf/d of firm transportation capacity on the lateral in Ohio and will extend the line from Grant County, IN, to Cincinnati with 124 miles of 30-inch diameter pipe. The project is designed to carry more western and southwestern supplies eastward. It would increase access to gas supply from the Midcontinent, the Rockies, the Gulf Coast and from Trunkline LNG’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Lake Charles, LA for customers in the Midwest and along the East Coast. The project would provide additional transportation capacity to Dayton, Cincinnati and East Coast markets through connections at Lebanon, OH, to Texas Eastern Transmission, Columbia Gas Transmission and Dominion Transmission. It is planned to be in service by November 2006. Previously the open season was scheduled to end on May 14. Open Season documents can be obtained by calling either Jim Van Matre at (713) 989-7625 or Gregg Russell at (713) 989-7624.

Transwestern has scheduled March 26-27 maintenance at the P-3 Compressor Station on its Panhandle Lateral. There will be zero flow at the Williams Canadian River and ANR-Red Deer points during the work.

Panhandle Eastern said an outage at the Louisburg (KS) Station to replace a gate valve will begin at 8 a.m. CDT today and last about one day and eight hours. The KN Pony Express point will be shut in during the work, affecting 75,000 Dth/d.

Panhandle Eastern plans a maintenance outage of the 100 Line from Louisburg to Houstonia for Thursday and Friday. The Pony Express point will be unavailable for 36 hours, affecting about 75 MMcf.

Western Gas Resources, Inc. announced yesterday that itswholly-owned subsidiary, Western Gas Resources-Oklahoma, Inc.(WGRO), purchased Panhandle Gathering Co.’s (PGC) 50% interest inWestana Gathering Co. for an undisclosed sum. The transaction hasan effective date of Jan. 1, 2000 and gives WGRO full ownership ofthe company.

Florida Gas Transmission extended maintenance at Station 14 in theFlorida Panhandle through Dec. 4, three days beyond the originallyprojected end date (see Daily GPI,Nov. 29). As previously posted, the work limits FGT’s market areato about 1.3 Bcf/d. Due to significant demand, the pipeline Wednesdayissued an Overage Alert Day notice for the system east of Station12. It carries a 6% tolerance for negative daily imbalances.

The $1.9 billion sale in March of Panhandle Eastern Pipe Lineand Trunkline Gas to Michigan-based CMS Energy resulted in aone-time gain of $1.82 per share for the first quarter and anafter-tax gain of $660 million, putting Duke earnings for thequarter over results in the same quarter last year. Duke reportedearnings of $2.65 per share, compared with 87 cents in 1Q98.Without the sale, and the absence of an extraordinary item fromlast year’s quarter, basic first-quarter earnings were 83 cents pershare versus 89 cents last year.