Transportation

Northwest Pipeline’s preliminary investigation indicates thatland movement affecting about 500 feet of pipe was the cause of aline break Friday night near Stevenson, WA (see Daily GPI, March 1,2). Following industry practice, Northwest will send segments ofthe pipe for metallurgical testing to verify the rupture’s causeconclusively. A temporary 16-inch surface pipeline is beinginstalled to restore service to LDC Northwest Natural Gas in theNorth Bonneville, WA, area. Northwest Pipeline said it is workingwith geotechnical experts to plan permanent re-routing of theruptured 26-inch line outside the boundaries of the land movementarea.

Recent decisions by FERC and Utah regulators involving theextent of their jurisdiction over the interstate transportationactivities of Questar Gas, a Utah-based LDC, don’t appear to becontradictory, say lawyers and company officials. In fact, the tworulings complement each other, particularly on the issue of states’authority over the interstate function of Hinshaw-exempt gasdistributors.

Miller Petroleum Inc. announced Monday that it finished thetransportation system for what it calls the first commercialcoalbed methane project in Kentucky. The Huntsville,Tennessee-based company completed and started service on a 4.5mile, six-inch pipeline extension that draws 200-220 Mcf/d fromfour coalbed methane wells located in southeastern Kentucky. Thegas, which the company said rates 980 Btu/Mcf, will be injectedinto the Columbia pipeline system and sold by a third party. Fortymore wells are scheduled to be drilled on this site in 1999. Thecompany estimates the finding cost for the project to average$.35/Mcf.

A systemwide entitlement against overtakes that began Dec. 19 onNorthwest remained in effect going into the holiday weekend.Northwest said Wednesday it would continue to operate under a Stage1 entitlement at 3% because it had not seen sufficient improvementin system conditions. However, as of Wednesday the entitlement waslifted on points south of Kemmerer (WY) Station.

Diversity of supply sources, a transportation network thatblankets nearly the entire state of Florida and strong customerties will give Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) the edge over newprojects – such as Williams-Transco’s proposed Buccaneer Pipeline- that plan to enter its territory to cash in on the growinggeneration market, says FGT President Rockford G. Meyer.

Citing continuing reduction of capacity by unseasonably hightemperatures, PG&E Gas Transmission-Northwest said it wouldagain be necessary to limit volumes today to 2,450 MMcf/d atKingsgate and to 1,870 MMcf/d at Station 14 (the last one upstreamof Malin) in order to return the system to optimum performance.

Pacific Gas & Electric extended a low-inventory Stage 1 OFO(see Daily GPI, Sept. 1) through today. Penalties were unchanged,but the negative imbalance tolerance was tightened to 5%.

Williams will abandon service Sept. 1 on its Pampa Line(designated as Line Segment 470), which runs from Hemphill County,TX to the Alva Compressor Station in Woods County, OK. As of Sept.1 Williams will not confirm nominations at any of 10 Pampa Linereceipt points. Point operators must either find other outlets fortheir gas or shut it in, Williams said. Shippers currentlytransporting from those points must replace the gas with othersupplies. The Hobart Ranch and South Bishop receipt points and theArnett and Irrigation delivery points, once connected to Pampa,have been moved to the Canadian-Blackwell Line (LS 458) and canstill be nominated on Williams.

Nation Fuel Gas Supply Corp. is holding an open season for19,100 Dth/d of long-term firm transportation capacity that hasbeen turned backed to its system. The open season will terminate onSept. 11.