Remaining

BP Canada late Tuesday extinguished the fire on the remaining well at its Fort Saskatchewan plant by setting a plug downhole in the well to isolate the cavern that stores ethane at the natural gas liquids (NGL) facility. The plant fire started following an explosion Aug. 26, which caused two wells to catch fire (see Daily GPI, Sept. 4). BP said it was sending emergency crews home and would bring in a recovery team to return operations to normal. The BP team now will focus on what caused the incident and will bring all pipeline systems and operations up by the end of the week. Most of the systems affected by the fire are now fully or partially operational, BP said, with the Peace and AEGS systems operating at 100%; Co-Ed running at 80%; and Cochin operating at 50% volumes.

Who knows what you will find these days when developing a new pipeline route? BP and Shell Gas Transmission reported late last week that while surveying a route for the proposed Okeanos Gas Pipeline, the companies stumbled across the long-sought wreckage of the German World War II submarine U-166 at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. The U-166 was reportedly the only submarine sunk in the Gulf during the war.

If there was any question remaining that the California crisis would have a negative impact on the electric deregulation progress around the rest of the nation, it has been answered, and the response is ‘yes.’ Three quarters of the utility regulators across the nation polled said that the financial, reliability and political consequences of the California snafu will slow, or even halt, the spread of deregulation to their states, according to a recent national survey created by Standard & Poor’s and conducted by RKS Research & Consulting.

If there was any question remaining that the California crisis would have a negative impact on the electric deregulation progress around the rest of the nation, it has been answered, and the response is ‘yes.’ Three quarters of the utility regulators across the nation polled said that the financial, reliability and political consequences of the California snafu will slow, or even halt, the spread of deregulation to their states, according to a recent national survey created by Standard & Poor’s and conducted by RKS Research & Consulting.

With North American natural gas supply remaining stagnant at about 71 Bcf/d over the last five years, and an estimated 109 Bcf/d of supply expected to be necessary by 2015, El Paso Chairman William A. Wise says the time for liquefied natural gas (LNG) has come.

With North American natural gas supply remaining stagnant atabout 71 Bcf/d over the last five years, and an estimated 109 Bcf/dof supply expected to be necessary by 2015, El Paso ChairmanWilliam A. Wise says the time for liquefied natural gas (LNG) hascome.

Westcoast Energy exercised its option to sell its remaining 49%interest in NGX Canada (NGX), an electronic gas trading exchange,to OM Gruppen of Stockholm, Sweden. The deal is likely to lead to asignificant upgrade of the Canadian trading system possibly to acontinental system with multiple commodity offerings, according toits new owner.

Westcoast Energy exercised its option to sell its remaining 49%interest in NGX Canada (NGX), an electronic gas trading exchange,to OM Gruppen of Stockholm, Sweden. The deal is likely to lead to asignificant upgrade of the Canadian trading system possibly to acontinental system with multiple commodity offerings, according toits new owner.

Alberta Energy Co. Ltd. wants to buy or lease another U.S. natural gas storage facility, but is remaining mum on what region it is targeting and which companies it may be negotiating with. CEO Gwyn Morgan would only say last week that his company is negotiating to buy a storage unit for less than C$100 million, and hopes to complete the deal before year’s end.