Postponed

Conference Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) on Friday postponed a conference vote on the broad energy bill that was scheduled for Tuesday and scrubbed plans to release the conference report, citing the failure of the House-Senate tax writers to settle their differences on a number of controversial tax items.

Conference Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) on Friday postponed a conference vote on the broad energy bill that was scheduled for Tuesday and shelved plans to release a conference report, citing the failure of the House-Senate tax writers to settle their differences on a number of controversial tax items.

Westcoast postponed an in-line inspection tool run between Stations 4B and 5, previously set for Thursday (see Daily GPI, July 30) due to failure of a tool component. The pipeline has not yet scheduled a new date for the project but said it will not be before Aug. 6 at the earliest. Westcoast also said its Pine River Gas Plant had shut down around 7 p.m. local time Tuesday due to an electrical failure but as of 6 a.m. Wednesday was processing all available gas with the A and B trains fully online. “The last processing train is currently circulating, and will come online as gas is available in the gathering system,” it said.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Friday postponed a hearing to consider the nomination of former New Mexico regulator Suedeen G. Kelly for a seat on FERC until September, expressing concern that Kelly could face hostile questions if her confirmation hearing were held now due to the hot-button nature of ongoing negotiations over the electricity title and energy legislation. Her hearing had been scheduled for July 16.

El Paso has postponed until 2003 maintenance shutdowns of the Mojave Topock Station ( DMOJAVE), previously scheduled for Nov. 8-15, and the Mojave Pipeline at Daggett, previously scheduled for Nov. 8. The change was made to accommodate customer scheduling needs during November, El Paso said.

Westcoast postponed the planned Aug. 27 Fort Nelson mainline outage for the tie-in of the 2002 Fort Nelson looping addition upstream of Compressor Station N5. Approval to proceed with the looping project has not yet been obtained from the National Energy Board but is expected to be forthcoming, the pipeline said. Westcoast still plans to complete the tie-in within the Aug. 27-Sept. 20 Fort Nelson Gas Plant turnaround period.

A one-day outage of the Sea Robin Processing Plant that had been set for today (see Daily GPI, March 12) was postponed until Thursday. The anticipated impact on Sea Robin Pipeline deliveries to Sabine and Columbia Gulf will remain in effect.

The National Energy Board (NEB) has postponed the commencement of its RH-4-2001 TransCanada PipeLines Cost of Capital public hearing until Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002. The hearing, which is expected to be long and contentious, had been slated to start Tuesday, Feb. 19. The NEB said it had decided on the postponement after considering the circumstances and arguments of the parties on a request for postponement from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Without giving any reasons, California regulators again last Wednesday postponed action on Southern California Gas Co.’s proposal to free up 14 Bcf of previous cushion gas at two of its underground storage fields and sell the supplies on the open market. It was originally proposed in the days of shorter supplies and higher wholesale prices. A vote Wednesday had been expected, according to one of the California Public Utilities Commissioners, Geoffrey Brown.