Resume

Although rejected earlier this year, a proposal by a Houston-based exploration company to resume drilling in California offshore waters for the first time in 40 years has new life this fall, according to backers who are eyeing a special legislative session before year-end, or the regular session next year to get something enacted. Added revenue for the cash-strapped state and some environmental concessions would be the incentives for lawmakers to act.

Although rejected earlier this year, a proposal by a Houston-based exploration company to resume drilling in California offshore waters for the first time in 40 years has new life, according to backers who are eyeing a special legislative session this fall or the regular session next year to get something enacted. Added revenue for the cash-strapped state and some environmental concessions would be the incentives for lawmakers to act.

Enterprise Product Partners LP’s High Island Offshore System LLC (HIOS) last Thursday was able to accept nominations and “resume some level of service” from all receipt locations to all delivery points by bypassing a Gulf of Mexico (GOM) compressor station damaged by a recent fire, the company said.

Southern Natural Gas said it will resume maintenance Friday on the Cypress Line, with an anticipated mid-February return to service. During the work Southern will not accept nominations at the AGL-Cypress Brunswick and Plant Brandy Branch-JEA meters.

A request to resume the first offshore drilling in state waters in 40 years was turned down Thursday by the three-member California State Lands Commission on a 2-1 vote at a meeting in Santa Barbara, CA. Plains Exploration and Production Company (PXP), which holds the federal lease for the offshore Point Pedernales Field about 50 miles northwest of Santa Barbara, had applied for two state offshore leases to develop the Tranquillon Ridge Oil Field.

FERC staff has given AGL Resources’ Golden Triangle Storage Inc. (GTS) the green light to resume construction at its East Texas storage project, which was halted earlier this month when the company discovered and self-reported to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) incidents of potential noncompliance with the conditions in its certificate order (see Daily GPI, July 9). GTS reported it quickly implemented several corrective measures to prevent the recurrence of future noncompliance incidents.

Saying a remediation of “objectionable liquids” injected into its system (see Daily GPI, May 12) has been completed, ANR said it will resume scheduling gas flow for Thursday at the Hobart Ranch receipt point in the Southwest Gathering Area.

With consideration of its project stalled at the FERC for lack of requested data, the sponsor of the Quoddy Bay LNG Import Project said Monday it expects the review to resume after the company submits the requested information “in the near future.”

Flows were allowed to resume at three meters Thursday after Tennessee lifted the force majeure that had been declared a week earlier for the West Delta 527A-300 Line due to a leak (see Daily GPI, April 16).