Pipelines

TransCanada PipeLines has shelved plans to build a 90-mileextension of its mainline system into the southern portion of theNorthwest Territories to tap a major new production area near FortLiard that is estimated to hold 5 Tcf of potential reserves. Thepipeline company said there is not enough producer interest at thistime so the project has been put on indefinite hold. However, themuch larger Mackenzie Delta pipeline project, which would extendabout 1,800 miles to the northwest, is still on the front burner.

While Washington D.C.-based trade groups for gas pipelines andLDCs have had some defections recently, the association for majorgas producers anticipates a small rise in its membership for nextyear.

El Paso Energy Corp. announced an open season for a newlyproposed 175 MMcf/d interstate pipeline between the Raton Basin andthe interstate pipelines of El Paso Natural Gas and NorthernNatural Gas in Moore County, TX. The open season began last weekand will conclude on Jan. 7 at 5 p.m. (MST).

El Paso Energy Corp. announced an open season for a newlyproposed 175 MMcf/d interstate pipeline between the Raton Basin andthe interstate pipelines of El Paso Natural Gas and NorthernNatural Gas in Moore County, TX. The open season began yesterdayand will conclude on Jan. 7 at 5 p.m. (MST).

The dire predictions that natural gas pipelines will be burdenedwith monstrous amounts of unsubscribed capacity as they enter thenew millennium don’t appear to be coming true. First Natural GasPipeline Co. of America reported it had sold out 99% of itstransportation capacity, and Tennessee Gas Pipeline announced lastweek it has sold out 80% of its 5.9 Bcf/d capacity for servicebeginning Nov. 1 of next year.

By virtue of a new agreement with TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.,Sears Canada could become the place where Canadians shop fornatural gas. Sears Canada and TransCanada, through its wholly ownedsubsidiary TransCanada Energy Ltd., plan to offer gas toresidential consumers in Ottawa. The program will start out as apilot, and the agreement between the companies is for six years.Sears will be the first national Canadian general retailer to offergas, the companies said.

After power price spikes, contract defaults and costly supplydeals cost Cinergy $73 million in July, the company said it wasseriously considering quiting the supply business altogether. (SeeDaily GPI, Aug. 9, Aug. 11, and Aug.13) But CEO James E. Rogerssaid yesterday the company’s board of directors has unanimouslydecided Cinergy should stick with it as the industry moves to acompetitive environment.

Fresh competition has emerged for TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.’sNova gas-gathering grid in Alberta – this time from its neighbor tothe east in Saskatchewan.

Fresh competition has emerged for TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.’sNova gas-gathering grid in Alberta — this time from its neighborto the east in Saskatchewan.