Pipeline

The subsea valve at Matagorda 758 on the Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS) was successfully closed late Wednesday afternoon and some production was to be brought back online Thursday, MOPS operator Northern Natural Gas said. Thirteen receipt point meters had been allocated to zero March 1 after a leak was detected upstream of the Matagorda 686 platform (see Daily GPI, March 2). “Upon establishment of required flow, a pig will be launched from platform 686,” Northern said. “Depending on the amount of liquids received, it is expected that the MOPS system receipts and deliveries will be shut in for 12-24 hours for liquids handling operations.” Production on all platforms downstream of the Matagorda 758 subsea valve is expected by Saturday, but the Mustang Island 782 SS, 782/785 SS and 787/805 platforms, which are upstream of the valve, must remain shut in until repairs are completed.

Northwest Pipeline Group has received binding precedent agreements from four companies for incremental storage service at Jackson Prairie totaling 104,000 Dth/d of firm deliverability capacity and an associated 1.2 trillion Btu of storage capacity.

ISO New England (ISO-NE) on Monday called for the region to increase the availability of natural gas by building new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals and natural gas pipeline capacity in order to help protect consumers from volatile fuel supplies.

Enogex Gas Gathering LLC has agreed to sell its natural gas gathering assets in Kinta, OK, to a subsidiary of Hiland Partners LP for $93 million. The assets include 568 miles of gas gathering pipeline and 23 compressor units with current volumes of approximately 145 MMcf/d, all in eastern Oklahoma. “The sale of these assets comes after careful analysis and is part of our repositioning and growth strategy,” said Danny Harris, COO of parent company Enogex Inc. “We expect this action to help us improve our long-term financial performance and position us to expand into other geographic areas of operation.” The transaction is expected to provide an after-tax book gain of $34 million and is currently scheduled to close by the end of April. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory reviews.

The Sea Robin Processing Plant operated by Amerada Hess was back online (see Daily GPI, March 27) and began processing around noon Sunday, Sea Robin Pipeline reported. It asked shippers to adjust gas flows and nominations as needed.

In a message to shippers Tuesday, Southern Natural President Jim Yardley highlighted the pipeline’s winter achievements following significant damage from last fall’s hurricanes. He said all firm transportation and storage service requests and nearly all interruptible requests were honored. A system-wide operational flow order (OFO) was required on only one gas day. And gas supply flowing through the offshore system in the Gulf of Mexico and the Toca, LA, compressor station, both of which were damaged heavily by Hurricane Katrina, is at or above pre-Katrina levels. Working storage inventory also is at historically high levels and likely will end the winter at levels well above last year, Yardley said. Meanwhile, repair work is expected to be completed at the end of April on remaining damaged laterals in the Gulf and on damaged compressor engines at Toca. Repairs to the Olga compressor station, southeast of New Orleans, have not been made.

A force majeure was declared Wednesday on the Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS) after MOPS operator Northern Natural Gas detected a leak upstream of the Matagorda 686 platform. Crews were en route to investigate and make repairs as necessary, NNG said. Thirteen receipt point meters have been allocated to zero until repairs are completed.

Following the damage to Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico production and pipeline infrastructure from last year’s hurricanes, natural gas consumption for power generation and thermal output plummeted 9% to 492.4 Bcf in October compared to the same month in 2004, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday in its Electric Power Monthly publication. EIA said the bulk of the lost fuel was made up through a 43.1% increase in petroleum liquids consumption by generators. October 2005 net generation fell nearly 10% from September levels to 315 million MWh but was up 0.8% from October 2004 levels.

MRT said a System Protection Warning initiated Dec. 31, in which the pipeline said it would be unable to schedule volumes that resulted in a net daily long imbalance position through Tuesday, will be lifted at the start of Wednesday’s gas day.