Returning

Transco told shippers Friday that it would implement an Imbalance OFO Saturday due to high linepack. However, the OFO was canceled Saturday morning as Transco said linepack was returning to “acceptable” levels. The following restrictions remain in place until further notice: the pool balancing tolerance is 1%; Transco will not allow any makeup of due-pipeline imbalances; no excess storage injections are allowed; and no incremental parked gas or return of loaned gas will be accommodated.

The cash market combined support from forecasts of hot weather from the Southeast to Arizona, a touch of heating load-raising chill returning to the Northeast and Midwest, the previous Friday’s 16-cent increase by June natural gas futures and the return of industrial load from its greater-than-usual decline over a holiday weekend to record gains at all points Monday. Several western upticks were in triple digits.

Prices continued to rise Monday at all but a few western and Midcontinent points based on unseasonably cool temperatures returning to the forecast in much of the Midwest and Northeast, mid-90s highs in the desert Southwest, the previous Friday’s 17.3-cent increase by May futures and the return of industrial load from its usual weekend decline.

Nearly all of the cash market was on the rise Tuesday, pushed primarily by the previous day’s 15.2-cent screen gain and secondarily by colder weather returning to the Rockies. The overall firmness defied moderate temperatures in many areas, but likely derived some support from storage purchases as the refill season gets under way with a significant Gulf of Mexico supply constraint in the form of the Independence Hub outage (see Daily GPI, April 14; April 10).

Saying its service area was returning to more normal winter temperatures, Transco ended Friday an Imbalance Operational Flow Order that had been implemented Wednesday along with a reduction in pool scheduling tolerances to 1%. Transco said it was restoring pool tolerances to 4% Friday and would allow due-shipper imbalance makeup nominations. The pipeline also reminded customers that it will make facility modifications Tuesday through Thursday this week in association with a tap installation on the Southwest Louisiana Lateral in Cameron Parish, LA. In order to accommodate the work, all receipt points upstream of Station 44 in Johnson’s Bayou, LA, must be shut in, including gas received on the North High Island and West Cameron laterals. This will affect about 350 MMcf/d of production, Transco said. See the bulletin board for a list of affected points.

Northern Natural Gas, operator of the Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS), has posted a tentative plan for returning MOPS to service. In a project to disconnect and abandon the Matagorda Island 686C compression platform, the 24-inch diameter line was shut in and blown down June 12 from Mustang Island 758 to the onshore Tivoli, TX, processing plant. The project was expected to be completed July 16, but weather problems plagued the subsea work and the outage was extended, a Northern spokeswoman said. The work caused 21 receipt points and seven delivery points to be shut in. Eight MOPS platforms in addition to Mustang Island 758 will be brought on-line Monday and Tuesday to pressure test the system and bring the mainline back to normal operating pressure. On Wednesday a pig will be launched from the Mustang Island 758 platform to clear accumulated liquids from the mainline. Nominations will be accepted for Wednesday’s gas day for the nine platforms listed (see bulletin board) to facilitate the pigging activity. The pig is expected to be received at the Tivoli plant on or before July 29, and it is expected to take a minimum of three days afterward to process the liquids. All platform production will be shut in during the liquids processing. Once the liquids have been processed the MOPS system will return to normal operations, which is expected to be for the Aug. 2 gas day.

Colder weather returning to northern market areas combined with rising power generation load for air conditioning needs along the entire southern rim of the U.S. to boost prices at most points. The cash market also had residual support from Friday’s 12.1-cent advance by May futures.

A returning and a new member of the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) will be sworn into their respective offices Tuesday, giving the state regulatory commission a permanent replacement for Marc Spitzer, a former member and state legislative leader who accepted a nomination to FERC earlier this year. The ACC will begin the new year with a full complement of regulators.

Philadelphia-based PECO said it will decrease its natural gas rate by nearly 11%, effective Sept. 1, returning prices to levels prior to Hurricane Katrina a year ago. PECO serves 474,000 suburban customers in southeastern Pennsylvania.