Reroute

The recent fire at the Lathrop natural gas compressor station in northeastern Pennsylvania, which forced a major Marcellus Shale producer to reroute gas supplies for several days, is highlighting a gap in pipeline safety legislation passed earlier this year.

What’s already a common provision in globally based liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracts — flexible destination rights that allow shippers to reroute their cargoes to higher paying ports — within 10 years will be included in all LNG deals. Most of the contracts for the gas slated to go through Sempra Energy’s new North Baja California terminal that opens early next year in Mexico already have these so-called “economic dispatch” provisions. This development was part of what a panel told participants last Tuesday at the LDC Forum Rockies & West conference in Los Angeles.

Third-party abandonment and removal of the Brazos Block A-20 platform offshore Texas will require Transco to reconfigure and reroute the line that currently boards and departs from the platform. The project is currently scheduled to begin on or about Nov. 14 and is estimated to last for 30 days. During this period, production from the Brazos A-23, A-19 and 544 blocks will not be available for flow to Transco.