Platforms

Columbia Gulf notified operators Monday at nine Eugene Island platforms where it and/or Tennessee has meters (see Daily GPI, Sept. 19) that they must shut in and take nominations to zero immediately in order to allow Columbia Gulf to make repairs to a leak on its 20-inch line in the Eugene Island 264 area. “Operators should not begin flowing gas until further notice,” Columbia Gulf said.

As a result of further investigations at individual production platforms, Trunkline said Thursday it has added receipt points to a list of those unavailable for nomination due to operational issues on the particular platform (see bulletin board for details). As these issues are resolved, the points will be removed from the list, it said. Field personnel have partially completed pressure testing of the line east of Trunkline’s T-25 platform at Ship Shoal 139. The remaining sections to be testted are the legs east of T-22 at South Timbalier 175 and the 319B-4400 line between T-21 and T-22. All other Terrebonne System sections have sucessfully passed the pressure tests, Trunkline said.

As of Thursday morning, all the platforms and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico that were evacuated because of Hurricane Dennis were remanned, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) said. MMS puts the total gas production still shut in at 268.29 MMcf/d as of 11: 30 a.m. CDT Thursday.

The amount of Gulf of Mexico gas production shut in due to damage from Hurricane Ivan dropped sharply this week to about 743 MMcf/d on Thursday from 1.2 Bcf/d last Friday. However, Southern Natural Gas has reported that pipeline replacement work at Main Pass 298 will leave about 240 MMcf/d shut in for six to 12 months.

The amount of Gulf of Mexico gas production shut in due to damage from Hurricane Ivan dropped sharply this week to about 743 MMcf/d on Thursday from 1.2 Bcf/d last Friday. However, Southern Natural Gas has reported that pipeline replacement work at Main Pass 298 will leave about 240 MMcf/d shut in for six to 12 months.

Questar Corp. plans to continue investing heavily in exploration and production (E&P) and reserve acquisitions in the Rocky Mountains and Midcontinent regions over the next few years to maintain its “good returns” on capital in its nonregulated businesses, and to lift the returns on its lagging regulated businesses. It also intends to sell off non-core energy assets to lighten its debt load, said the company’s new CEO Keith O. Rattie.

NGPL discovered a leak Monday on its HI [High Island] Block 71Lateral offshore southeastern Texas. Three platforms (High IslandBlocks 71, 139 and 116) with scheduled nominations through thelateral were shut on Tuesday until further notice. Shippers will benotified via NGPL’s bulletin board when nominations may be resumed.

Baker Energy, a unit of Michael Baker Corp., signed a majoroperation and maintenance agreement with El Paso Production Co.that covers all of El Paso’s offshore production facilities in theGulf of Mexico (GOM). El Paso Production, formerly known as SonatExploration, operates more than 50 manned and unmanned oil and gasproduction facilities throughout the GOM. The contract has anexpected annual value of $12 million.