Strained

CIG declared a Strained Operating Condition (SOC) to become effective Friday until further notice. “With the unseasonably warm weather that is forecasted to continue through the rest of March and with storage inventories at higher-than-usual levels for this time of year, CIG’s ability to absorb imbalances caused by mismatches between scheduled receipts and deliveries or those imbalances arising from variations in actual gas flow from scheduled quantities is extremely limited,” the pipeline said. “These conditions also severely limit CIG’s ability to handle storage injections in excess of each storage shipper’s Available Daily Injection Quantity (ADIQ) or inventory levels above Maximum Available Capacity (MAC). During the effective period of the SOC, shippers should anticipate that CIG will require all transportation transactions to be in balance between receipts and deliveries.” See the bulletin board for other SOC conditions.

El Paso expanded a location-specific Strained Operation Condition (SOC) due to drafting-caused low linepack that it had declared Saturday to a systemwide SOC Sunday. The imbalance tolerance was set initially at 10%, El Paso said, but will be reduced “if conditions do not sufficiently improve.” System linepack had fallen below 7,100 MMcf “with continued takes in excess of scheduled deliveries. Additionally, the San Juan supply basin continues to experience underperformance issues related to the cold weather with an approximate shortfall of 400 MMcf at the present time [Sunday] and [El Paso] is beginning to see underperformance in the Permian supply basin as well. Performance caps have been placed and will continue to be placed on underperforming supplies.” Its Washington Ranch storage facility was on maximum withdrawal, the pipeline said. Interruptible Storage Service was suspended Sunday until further notice.

El Paso warned shippers Wednesday afternoon of the potential for a Strained Operating Condition (SOC), saying its linepack was expected to drop below 7,200 MMcf that night because of evening loads in the Phoenix area and the continuation of takes in excess of scheduled deliveries. However, the pipeline canceled the SOC warning Thursday due to customer response being sufficient to increase its linepack “to acceptable levels.” Washington Ranch storage remained on maximum withdrawal, El Paso added.

El Paso declared a Strained Operating Condition Monday specific to three Arizona utility interconnects (DAPS PHX, DAPS YUM and DSRP PHX) due to high linepack. The imbalance tolerance was set initially at 10%. “The milder weather in the Phoenix area in combination with actual takes below scheduled quantities has resulted in a high linepack condition with the system linepack currently at 7,880 MMcf,” El Paso said, adding that its Washington Ranch storage facility was operating at maximum injections. Interruptible Storage Service was suspended Monday until further notice.

Late Monday afternoon El Paso declared a Strained Operating Condition for a draft condition on its entire system, effective with Tuesday’s gas day. The imbalance tolerance was set initially at 10%, but El Paso said it will reduce the tolerance “if conditions do not sufficiently improve. Increased loads on the system with takes in excess of scheduled quantities in combination with underperformance in the supply areas due to pipeline/producer interconnect maintenance and equipment outages due to high ambient [temperature] conditions and power failures is resulting in a draft to the system that could lead to a low linepack condition. Additionally, the power failures in the Permian/West Texas area are impacting compressor station operations and Washington Ranch [storage facility] is currently down as a result of a loss of power.” Interruptible Storage Service was suspended Tuesday until further notice.

El Paso declared a systemwide Strained Operating Condition (SOC) for a draft condition Tuesday. The imbalance tolerance was initially set at 10%, but El Paso warned that it will reduce the tolerance “if conditions do not sufficiently improve.” A significant increase in system loads was a result of high ambient temperatures in the pipeline’s service area in combination with takes in excess of scheduled quantities resulted in a loss of about 300 MMcf in linepack since noon MCT Monday, El Paso explained, and its Washington Ranch storage facility was at maximum withdrawal rate. Interruptible Storage Service was suspended Tuesday until further notice.

El Paso Natural declared a Strained Operating Condition (SOC) for a Draft condition on its entire system Friday. The imbalance tolerance was set initially at 10%, but El Paso said it would reduce the tolerance level if conditions did not improve sufficiently. “A combination of receipt underperformance and takes in excess of scheduled quantities has resulted in a substantial loss of linepack on EPNG’s system with linepack at approximately 7,200 MMcf,” the pipeline said. “Washington Ranch [storage facility] is on withdrawal at maximum rate.”

After warning earlier Monday that it might be required to declare a Strained Operating Condition (SOC) due to excessive drafting of its system, El Paso later followed through by declaring an SOC-Draft to become effect Tuesday for eight specified locations. El Paso initially set the tolerance for negative daily imbalances at 10% but said it “will reduce the imbalance tolerance if conditions do not sufficiently improve. A combination of receipt underperformance and takes in excess of scheduled quantities has resulted in a substantial loss of linepack on [the El Paso] system over the past weekend with linepack at approximately 7,200 MMcf. Washington Ranch [storage facility] is on withdrawal at maximum rate.”

El Paso, which had warned shippers of a potential Pack Strained Operating Condition (SOC) Nov. 4 and said last Friday the warning remained in effect (see Daily GPI, Nov. 12), made the SOC a reality Monday. It declared a systemwide Pack SOC for the Nov. 13-20 gas days, setting the imbalance tolerance initially at 10% but saying it will reduce the tolerance if conditions do not sufficiently improve. El Paso cited “milder weather than usual for this time of year” as well as a planned outage of its Washington Ranch storage facility that was to have begun Monday and run through Nov. 19. However, due to “extremely high linepack” impacting its system, El Paso said it had delayed the Washington Ranch work to Tuesday through Nov. 20.