Requiring

FERC Monday approved a stipulation and consent agreement requiring Columbia Gulf Transmission to pay a $2 million penalty for its repeated refusal to allow Tennessee Gas Pipeline to construct an interconnection on a line that is jointly owned and operated by the two pipelines on the Gulf Coast in Louisiana.

FERC last Thursday rejected as “premature” a request to revise a final rule requiring regulated companies to quickly report damage caused by a “natural disaster or terrorist activity” that curtails natural gas pipeline throughput or storage deliverability.

FERC last Wednesday approved a settlement agreement requiring Maine distributor Bangor Gas Co. LLC to pay a civil penalty of $1 million for violations of the agency’s “shipper-must-have-title” requirements. This marked the first time that FERC has exercised its enhanced penalty authority under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) for natural gas violations.

FERC Thursday rejected as “premature” a request to revise a final rule requiring regulated companies to quickly report damage caused by a “natural disaster or terrorist activity” that curtails natural gas pipeline throughput or storage deliverability.

FERC Wednesday approved a settlement agreement requiring Maine distributor Bangor Gas Co. LLC to pay a civil penalty of $1 million for violations of the agency’s “shipper-must-have-title” requirements. This marked the first time that FERC has exercised its enhanced penalty authority under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) for natural gas violations.

Columbia Gas reminded Firm Storage Service (FSS) customers of a section in their rate schedule requiring that account volumes on Feb. 1 not exceed 65% of the Storage Contract Quantity (SCQ). Additionally, the maximum inventory on April 1 shall not exceed 25% of SCQ, Columbia said, adding that failure to comply with the April 1 requirement may result in forfeiture of quantities above the 25% level.

Questar declared an OFO late Thursday afternoon, saying that effective immediately until further notice, it is “requiring shippers and point operators to have production volumes match accepted nominations exactly, with zero tolerance allowed.” Due to a shut-in test at Clay Basin storage facility that began last Thursday and will run through Wednesday, Questar’s Clay Basin balancing account is not available. Questar said its system “is operating at close to capacity and the injection test [conducted last Wednesday] has placed added burden on operating conditions, resulting in minimal linepack being available for balancing.” See the bulletin board for more OFO information. Questar also said Friday that beginning Thursday (Oct. 19), all customers under the PAL1 rate schedule must withdraw all parked gas in their accounts at Clay Basin. It will contact each PAL1 customer individually about its required schedule of withdrawals.

Florida Gas Transmission said a third-party contractor damaged its Texas mainline near compressor station six, requiring one to three days of repair work. The line had been transporting about 300,000 Dth/d. FGT also declared an overage alert in its market area Tuesday with a 25% tolerance.

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposed Roan Plateau resource management plan (RMP) released Thursday appears to be overly restrictive in requiring only one oil and gas development company to be the operator for all the leases on top of the plateau itself, which represents about 50% of the planning area in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado, said Greg Schnacke, executive vice present of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. Schnacke said the idea of having one company do all the development is unprecedented and will probably backfire on the agency.