Backers of a proposed regional transmission organization (RTO) in the Southeast known as SeTrans last week said that they are suspending efforts related to forming the RTO, saying that it is “highly unlikely that consensus support and acceptance for the SeTrans RTO will be forthcoming from all applicable state and federal agencies.”
Southeast
Articles from Southeast
Soaring Northeast Citygates Lead Overall Price Surge
Pushed by a new spread of cold weather that limited highs above 70 to the Southeast and promised to engulf much of that region the following day, the market recorded strong upticks across the board Wednesday. Tuesday’s screen gain of nearly 16 cents also lent some delayed support to cash prices.
Transportation Notes
Citing the effects of Hurricane Isabel, Columbia Gas said Friday its markets in southeast Virginia were “taking gas at abnormally low levels” and the condition might require issuance of an OFO. Columbia said its ability to receive gas into Market Area 34, “specifically at the Emporia interconnection with Transco,” was very limited. Market Area 34 was already subject to Critical Day restrictions (see Daily GPI, Sept. 10). To avoid an OFO, customers were asked to minimize receipts into Market Area 34, especially at Emporia, where zero non-firm receipt capacity was posted. “Customers should attempt to verify the existence of their actual market prior to scheduling deliveries into Markets Areas 33 and 34,” the pipeline continued. See the bulletin board for actions that Columbia took to protect system integrity and other details.
Transportation Notes
Effective April 1, total nominations at receipt points on its 26-inch Main Pass Line offshore southeast Louisiana increased significantly, Sonat said. Also, it began scheduled maintenance at compressor stations in the production area, and as a result, some interruptible nominations (“A-1” and or “IT”) are not being accepted due to capacity constraints. In addition, several receipt points on the Main Pass Line have been identified at which actual flows are exceeding scheduled flows, the pipeline said. It encouraged all shippers on the line to check scheduled quantities to determine how much of their interruptible receipt nominations were accepted, and asked operators not to overdeliver into the system in order to avoid implementation of a Type 5 OFO.
Two Southeast Power Houses Join Forces in $14B Merger
Florida-based FPL Group Inc., the largest power company in oneof the fastest growing states, has agreed to buy New Orleans-basedEntergy Corp. for $13.9 billion in stock and assumed debt to formthe largest utility in the United States. When the deal is done,the new company will serve 6.3 million customers and have acombined generating capacity of more than 48,000 MW.
Transportation Notes
As it had said might be necessary due to processing cutbacks (see Daily GPI, Oct. 29), ANR declared an OFO Monday restricting receipts on its Southeast system to heating value of no more than 1,050 Btus per cubic foot. The OFO becomes effective Nov. 1 until further notice.
Transportation Notes
Due to a change in schedule, Tennessee was unable to deliver gas for processing to the Yscloskey Plant in southeast Louisiana beginning Wednesday. Customers were required to reduce PTR nominations for Yscloskey to zero until further notice.
Transportation Notes
Tennessee will perform pipeline modifications Oct. 14-24 to the 500 Line at the Yscloskey Gas Processing Plant, located near Main Line Valve 529 in southeast Louisiana. The work will not impact available capacity on the 500 Line, but the Eloi Bay meter will be out of service during the entire period. In addition, Tennessee will be unable to deliver gas to Yscloskey for processing starting Oct. 14. On or about Oct. 18, Tennessee anticipates resuming deliveries of about 600 MMcf/d to Yscloskey, with full deliveries due again after Oct. 24.
Southeast Transmission Owners Unveil Plans For New RTO
Owners of transmission systems stretching across several Southeastern states have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a regional transmission organization (RTO) for the region. If the transmission owners prove successful in their efforts to develop the RTO, it would be one of the nation’s largest, covering more than 39,000 miles of transmission lines with an investment in assets in excess of $6 billion.
Transportation Notes
ANR revised the schedule of capacity reductions that was posted last week for June 4-July 6 maintenance on its Southeast Mainline (see Daily GPI, May 22). Here is the new schedule: June 4-10, 195 MMcf/d; June 11-12, 225 MMcf/d; June 13-24, 60 MMcf/d; June 25-26, 140 MMcf/d; June 27-July 3, 220 MMcf/d; and July 4-6, 25 MMcf/d. ANR also said Michigan Leg capacity will be cut by about 200 MMcf/d while the 22-inch mainline is pigged later this month. Pigging of the Sandwich to Bridgman segment will occur during the week of June 18, while the Bridgman to Woolfolk segment will be pigged during the week of June 25.