Transquebec

The TransQuebec & Maritimes (TQM) unit of TransCanada declared a force majeure to the parent pipeline company effective for the Sept. 3 gas day due to a compressor failure at TQM’s East Hereford Station in Quebec near the New Hampshire border. As a result, TransCanada said Thursday it has issued its own force majeure declaration to firm shippers delivering to East Hereford “in the unlikely event that firm curtailments will be required.” TransCanada added that it does not anticipate any restrictions of firm service to East Hereford unless operational conditions or nomination levels change substantially. Discretionary service restrictions, including diversions, to East Hereford may be necessary, TransCanada said. The expected duration of the outage is unknown, it said.

TransCanada brought the Lachenaie Compressor Station on its TransQuebec & Maritimes system back online at 3 p.m. EST Wednesday and said a curtailment of all discretionary services (including diversions) to East Hereford, PQ would be lifted with the day’s intraday 2 nominations cycle. Lachenaie, about 45 kilometers north of Montreal, experienced an unexpected shutdown Tuesday morning. Preliminary investigations have indicated an electrical ground fault to be the root cause of the outage, the pipeline said. For Thursday, no curtailments are expected for deliveries to East Hereford. However, no increases in nominations to East Hereford will be authorized to ensure sufficient recovery of line pack and pressures in the affected area, TransCanada said.

A gas explosion tore apart TransQuebec & Maritimes (TQM)pipeline’s East Hereford, PQ, compressor station near theQuebec-New-Hampshire border last Thursday, injuring one person andcompletely destroying an instrumentation control building. The lossof gas compression at the border crossing is reducing firm gasflows by 10-20 MMcf/d into the Portland Natural Gas TransmissionSystem (PNGTS) in New England.

The Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS) andTransQuebec &amp Maritimes Pipeline (TQM) held a ribbon-cuttingceremony last week at the U.S./Canada border to announce completionof the first high-capacity gas pipeline to serve northern NewEngland. Commercial operations, however, are not expected to beginuntil Saturday, March 6. And PNGTS probably will not betransporting its full certificated capacity of 178,000 MMBtu/duntil the end of the year, said spokesman John Flumerfelt, becauseseveral of the power plants and paper mills to be served by thepipeline are not complete.

The Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS) andTransQuebec & Maritimes Pipeline (TQM) held a ribbon-cuttingceremony yesterday at the U.S./Canada border to announce completionof the first high-capacity gas pipeline to serve northern NewEngland. Commercial operations, however, are not expected to beginuntil March 6. And PNGTS probably will not be transporting its fullcertificated capacity of 178,000 MMBtu/d until the end of the year,said spokesman John Flumerfelt, because several of the power plantsand paper mills to be served by the pipeline are not completed.