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.
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Industry Briefs
El Paso Corp. has agreed to sell its 33.3% interest in a portion of its Australian pipeline holdings to Hastings Funds Management for $48 million. The assets include 1,180 miles of pipelines in South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. It is part of El Paso’s plan to reduce debt, net of cash, to $15 billion by year-end 2005. To date, the company has announced or closed $3 billion of the $3.3-3.9 billion in sales targeted under the plan.
Transportation Notes
Citing operational difficulties, Dominion said it is currently unable to deliver gas to Columbia Gas via the Coronado Pipeline. Dominion pool operators must cut nominations on Coronado to zero effective Friday until further notice. Pool operators will be notified when normal deliveries can resume.
AEP Completes HPL Purchase
American Electric Power completed its purchase Friday of Enron Corp.’s intrastate natural gas pipeline subsidiary, Houston Pipe Line Co. The $726.6 million transaction gives AEP, headquartered in Columbus, OH, a 30-year pre-paid lease related to the operation of one of North America’s largest storage facilities, the Bammel Storage Facility and HPL’s inventory.
Transportation Notes
Pipeline affiliates Texas Eastern and Algonquin noted that while forecasts were for more seasonal conditions in their market areas over the weekend, they would continue to have limited operational flexibility. Texas Eastern said it would have limited due-shipper imbalance gas available Saturday, but not in the M-3 zone. It added that due-shipper gas in upstream zones could not be used to supply M-3 markets.
Transportation Notes
Northwest cautioned shippers Tuesday “to purchase adequate gas supplies and not to draft the pipeline during the upcoming weekend.” It went on to note that market-area weather had been cold for the previous few days, and that “extremely cold temperatures” were predicted to begin Sunday (Jan. 4). For last Tuesday’s gas day, withdrawals from Jackson Prairie storage were twice as high as scheduled nominations, Northwest said. If system drafting continues, “Northwest will be forced to evaluate customer-specific and/or general entitlements in order to stop any drastic decline in our Jackson Prairie balancing gas.”
Transportation Notes
Due to an excessive amount of liquids received at the Tivoli Plant onshore Texas Sunday morning, the Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System was shut in that day and all receipts and deliveries were scheduled to zero. Return to service is expected by Tuesday, MOPS operator Northern Natural Gas said; it had expected to finish a scheduled pigging project Sunday (see Daily GPI, Dec. 18). Florida Gas Transmission took its scheduled deliveries from MOPS at their interconnect in Matagorda County, TX to zero for Sunday’s gas day and until further notice.
Transportation Notes
The completion date for a complete pigging of Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System has been extended through Tuesday; the project was originally scheduled to finish Sunday (see Daily GPI, Nov. 13).
Transportation Notes
Texas Eastern said the investigation and repair of the pipeline break at the discharge of the French Lick station in Indiana continues. Until completion of the investigation and repair, receipts on the 24-inch diameter line will be restricted. For Oct. 17, it was not necessary to restrict nominations for gas leaving the constrained area due to reductions in requested volumes. However, Tetco said no incremental supply nominations can be accepted.
Transportation Notes
The TransQuebec & Maritimes (TQM) unit of TransCanada declared a force majeure to the parent pipeline company effective for the Sept. 3 gas day due to a compressor failure at TQM’s East Hereford Station in Quebec near the New Hampshire border. As a result, TransCanada said Thursday it has issued its own force majeure declaration to firm shippers delivering to East Hereford “in the unlikely event that firm curtailments will be required.” TransCanada added that it does not anticipate any restrictions of firm service to East Hereford unless operational conditions or nomination levels change substantially. Discretionary service restrictions, including diversions, to East Hereford may be necessary, TransCanada said. The expected duration of the outage is unknown, it said.
