Routine

Routine U.S. nuclear plant maintenance, exacerbated by Japan’s plant outages, lifted U.S. natural gas markets in late April and helped to take out an estimated 3 Bcf/d year/year (y/y) of gas supply, but the looser market won’t last long, analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. said Tuesday.

Florida Gas Transmission ended Friday an Overage Alert after a two-day run.

Southern California Gas declared a high-linepack OFO for Friday, setting the tolerance for positive daily imbalances at 10%.

Northwest reduced available capacity at Sumas from 1,313,000 Dth/d to 800,000 Dth/d due to engine damage discovered during routine inspections on Units 7 and 8 at the Sumas Compressor Station. Current net southbound nominations through Sumas are approximately 692,000 Dth/d, Northwest said. Emergency repairs are under way and Unit 7 is expected to be in service as early as Tuesday, while Unit 8 is expected to return to service March 16, it added. Available capacity will increase to 1,000,000 Dth/d when unit 7 is placed back in service, and the station design capacity of 1,313,000 Dth/d will be restored when both units are available for service. If primary nominations exceed 800,000 Dth/d prior to Unit 7 returning to service, Northwest said it will declare a deficiency period and cut nominations accordingly. “If customers require additional supply, Northwest suggests that they source gas from Alberta or Rockies interconnections,” the pipeline said.

After taking a mid-week breather to test the upside, near-month natural gas futures on Friday were back to the recent routine of probing support at $7. January natural gas futures closed out the week at $7.025, down 16.8 cents from Thursday and 13 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

Natural gas production from the Independence Hub was interrupted Tuesday to conduct routine maintenance over the next couple of days on the Gulf of Mexico facility, according to the majority owner of the hub.

Florida Gas Transmission declared an Overage Alert Day notice Wednesday with 25% tolerance for negative daily imbalances.

During the company’s routine dividend per share announcement, Chesapeake Energy Corp. said Friday it has decided to sell or trade its Permian Basin assets so that it can further tighten its focus on the Mid-Continent region, where 85% of its assets are currently located.

After analysis of anomalies discovered during its routine inspection program, NGPL has shut in its #1 line between Compressor Stations 301 and 302 in Segment 22. The #2 line is still flowing at a reduced pressure while repairs commence on the #1 line. Effective today until further notice, gas sourced out of the South Texas Zone for deliveries north or east into the Gulf Coast System will be restricted. AOR, IT and Secondary volumes will not be scheduled, while Primary services will be available at a reduced level.