Plant

Destin Pipeline reported experiencing problems at both the MainPass 260 platform and the BP Amoco Pascagoula Processing Plant with”some objectionable substance” flowing into the system. It cut theVKGS Main Pass 260 point to 50% of scheduled volumes Monday. Thepoint was shut in Tuesday and no nominations are being acceptedthere until further notice, Destin said.

Westcoast took its McMahon Plant off-line at midafternoon Sundayfor unplanned repairs to the inlet facility. Authorized volumes forSunday’s gas day were cut in half. A force majeure declaration forMcMahon was lifted early Monday morning.

The New York State Public Service Commission has approved thesale of all electricity generating facilities owned by Orange andRockland Utilities, including a facility owned jointly withConsolidated Edison of New York, to affiliates of Southern Energy,Inc. for $476.3 million. All net proceeds from the sale will beused for the benefit of O&R and Con Edison ratepayers.

El Paso will have the “B” Plant at Williams (AZ) Station downfor maintenance June 21-23, reduing North Mainline capacity in SanJuan Basin by 100 MMcf/d. From June 28 through July 7, individualWilliams “B” compressors will be off-line, cutting North Mainlinecapacity by 25 MMcf/d June 28-July 2 and by 40 MMcf/d July 3-7.

Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) parent Unicom is planning a shoppingspree that could include one or several major gas or waterdistribution companies or a communications company, Unicom Chairmanand CEO John W. Rowe said this week at the company’s annualmeeting.

Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) parent Unicom is planning a shoppingspree that could include one or several major gas or waterdistribution companies or a communications company, Unicom Chairmanand CEO John W. Rowe said this week at the company’s annualmeeting.

El Paso will shut down its Blanco (NM) Plant Monday forscheduled maintenance. Several other facilities on the San JuanCrossover and North Mainline also will have maintenance. Because atotal Blanco outage will last only half a day, the net reduction ofSan Juan Basin supply Monday will be 715 MMcf/d. Downtime of the Cand D units May 18-19 and of the D unit May 20-26 will causereductions of 500 MMcf/d and 270 MMcf/d respectively.

The Amoco processing plant serving Destin Pipeline is havingproblems with its liquids handling facility, reducing the handlingcapacity by 50% as of Monday, according to the Destin bulletinboard. Amoco estimates the reduction will last about a month. Thereis enough remaining capacity to process current daily liquidsvolumes, according to Destin, but if those volumes increase beyondAmoco’s capabilities the pipeline “could be forced to take furtheraction should the quality of the gas not meet market requirements.”

Despite a plea from Nevada regulators to postpone action, theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission last week readily approved a$4 billion merger of the state’s biggest electric and gas providers- Sierra Pacific Power and Nevada Power.