Unexpected

In apologizing to customers for unexpected reductions in capacity on the Baja Path over the holiday weekend (see the bulletin board for details), Pacific Gas and Electric’s California Gas Transmission (CGT) system said in addition to planned maintenance, it discovered an excessive amount of odorant in a section of Line 300B late May 25. Operations personnel have been working to isolate and purge the overodorized gas and expected to have this situation resolved Wednesday (June 1), CGT said.

Results of core and petrophysical analyses from a well on Quebec’s Anticosti Island are “encouraging,” according to Corridor Resources Inc. and Petrolia Inc., which hold leases covering more than 1.5 million acres on the island.

Offshore oil and natural gas producers received an unexpected Christmas gift in the stopgap funding measure signed by President Obama — it excludes a provision that would have extended the federal review period of new offshore drilling plans to 90 days from 30 days. It also provided additional funding to the states for low-income energy customers.

Ending with an unexpected twist at the end of a bidding war for bankrupt San Antonio-based TXCO Resources Inc.’s oil and gas assets in the Maverick Basin of Southwest Texas, Newfield Exploration Co. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. — once competitors for the assets — announced a joint transaction last week valued at up to $310 million.

Ending with an unexpected twist at the end of a bidding war for bankrupt San Antonio-based TXCO Resources Inc.’s oil and gas assets in the Maverick Basin of Southwest Texas, Newfield Exploration Co. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. — once competitors for the assets — announced a joint transaction Tuesday valued at up to $310 million.

Northern Natural Gas reported late Tuesday that Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS), which it operates, had encountered an unexpected mechanical failure of the dehydration system on its onshore facilities near Tivoli, TX. “Crews are assessing the damage and determining the scope of repairs necessary to return the facility to service,” Northern said. Until then MOPS has been shut in, affecting 18 receipt points and seven delivery points (see the bulletin board for list).

Natural gas futures bulls received some unexpected support on Thursday morning after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that a larger-than-expected 112 Bcf was withdrawn from underground storage for the week ending March 6. With the bullish storage draw and a significant burst of supportive strength coming from the crude futures arena, April natural gas futures broke back above $4 in afternoon trading before closing the day’s regular session at $3.995, up 19.7 cents from Wednesday’s finish.

Following the one-two bearish punch Thursday of an upward revision in natural gas storage levels and an unexpected 16 Bcf injection for the week ended Nov. 14, December natural gas futures were on the rebound Friday, reaching a high of $6.548 before closing at $6.480, up 16.4 cents from Thursday’s close and 16.8 cents higher than the previous week’s finish.

CIG declared a force majeure event after an unexpected outage at Kim Compressor Station, located on the Campo Lateral (CS1) constraint point. Engine components must be sent to an external repair facility, CIG said, and it estimated the station’s return to service at approximately one week. Capacity at CS1 was reduced from 414 MMcf/d to 355 MMcf/d Thursday.