Starting

A new round of expansion is getting under way in the buddingnatural gas industry in eastern Canada, starting with constructionof the last missing link in the country’s transcontinental pipelinegrid. Longer range, there are possibilities of a new majorpipeline to transport Atlantic Canada production to major markets.

Starting 2001 with a rush of activity, Burlington Resources (BR)announced that it has entered into separate agreements totalingapproximately $385 million with Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd.and ATCO Gas for properties in the Western Canadian SedimentaryBasin with combined net proved and net probable reserves of 497Bcfe. The company also reported that it raised its net income from$1 million for the full year 1999, to $675 million for the fullyear 2000.

A new round of expansion is getting under way in the buddingnatural gas industry in eastern Canada, starting with constructionof the last missing link in the country’s transcontinental pipelinegrid. Longer range, there are possibilities of a new majorpipeline to transport Atlantic Canada production to major markets.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is starting to prepare fora new five-year Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing programto run from 2002-2007. The agency has asked for input frominterested and affected parties.

Northwest Pipeline said yesterday if primary nomination requestscontinue to exceed the Kemmerer north flow capacity, starting onThursday it will begin an OFO. Since Oct. 27, scheduled gas throughthe Kemmerer Compressor station has exceeded capacity because of ashortfall in displacement volumes on all but one day. Recently, northflow primary nomination requests through Kemmerer have been up to50,000 Dth in excess of available capacity. Northwest said capacity isinsufficient to meet the north flow nomination requests — withoutsystem design displacement volumes — through Kemmerer and stillmaintain system reliability. Under the OFO provisions, shippers willbe notified to realign nominations from receipt points south ofKemmerer to receipt points north of Kemmerer. In addition, Northwestadvises that “affected shippers” recall capacity to the extent theyhave OFO exposure. Contact Northwest’s hotline for information (801)584-7301. To fulfill OFO obligations with an action other than recall,contact Jan Caldwell at (801) 584-7155 or Jane Harrison at (801)584-7225. (See Northwest’s bulletin for details on the potentialOFO)

The November aftermarket failed to surprise anyone by startingout Tuesday generally well below monthly indexes andlast-of-October prices. Only the Southern California border andMalin managed to stay close to bidweek levels.

Due to scheduled maintenance, one compressor unit will beunavailable at Koch Gateway’s Koran (LA) Station for 30 daysstarting Oct. 2, reducing station capacity by 22 MMcf/d. Worklasting about 30 days began Tuesday on a unit at the Montpelier(LA) Station, cutting capacity on the 30-inch Kosciusko Line fromMontpelier by 50 MMcf/d.

Williams’ Transco pipeline has received approval for itsSouthCoast Expansion, a project to deliver up to 204 MMcf/d ofadditional supplies starting in November, primarily in Georgia andSouth Carolina. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued acertificate for the project last Monday, accepting Transco’salternate incremental rate scheme, requiring signed 15-yearcontracts for 100% of capacity, and dismissing protests (see FERCDocket CP99-392)

Williams’ Transco pipeline has received approval for its SouthCoastExpansion, a project to deliver up to 204 MMcf/d of additionalsupplies starting in November, primarily in Georgia and SouthCarolina. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued acertificate for the project Monday, accepting Transco’s alternateincremental rate scheme, requiring signed 15-year contracts for 100%of capacity, and dismissing protests (see FERC Docket CP99-392)