Volumes

In a surprising decision Thursday, FERC rejected a bid by Gas Technology Institute (GTI), the successor to the Gas Research Institute (GRI), for a continued mandatory surcharge on natural gas volumes transported on interstate pipelines to fund new gas research, development and demonstration (RD&D) programs.

Despite the fact that trading volumes remained light due to Passover and upcoming Good Friday, May natural gas futures shimmied up 6.3 cents to close at $5.872, halting a two-day stretch during which the daily changes were less than a penny.

Unocal Corp. and its partners reported a major discovery on Wednesday in the Gulf of Mexico at the St. Malo prospect. Potential volumes from the well “give us the confidence to call this discovery a significant milestone in our Gulf of Mexico deep-water program,” said Mike Bell, Unocal’s vice president for the Deepwater USA unit. The well was drilled to a depth of 29,066 feet (8,859 meters), and it hit more than 450 feet of oil-bearing rock over a 1,400-foot interval, Unocal said. Unocal and its partners spent about $62 million on drilling. The well is in 6,900 feet of water 250 miles southwest of New Orleans. An evaluation of the discovery is planned in early 2004, which will include drilling at least one well, Unocal said. Unocal is the operator and holds a 29% stake. Other stakeholders include Brazilian energy concern Petrobras; Devon Energy Corp.; ChevronTexaco Corp.; EnCana Corp.; Exxon Mobil Corp.; and Eni SpA. Corridor Resources

Even with much larger natural gas volumes being produced in the Rockies, Kern River Gas Transmission’s newly expanded system is finding continuing barriers to getting its full complement of supplies into California, a Kern River executive told a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission workshop in Denver Wednesday. Up to 300 MMcf/d of Rockies gas is not getting through, according to Kern.

Even with much larger natural gas volumes being produced in the Rockies, Kern River Gas Transmission’s newly expanded system is finding continuing barriers to getting its full complement of supplies into California, a Kern River executive told a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission workshop in Denver Wednesday. Up to 300 MMcf/d of Rockies gas is not getting through, according to Kern.

Scheduled northbound volumes through the Kemmerer (WY) Compressor Station continue to exceed 500,000 Dth/d, Northwest said, while its Jackson Prairie storage account continues to decrease. Shippers were told that the pipeline will evaluate conditions on a daily basis, and if it finds that not maximizing a receipt or delivery point will alleviate the Kemmerer constraint, “please be advised that Northwest will NOT maximize these points in the Timely cycle.” The pipeline was not allowing any balancing Thursday except onto its system in the segment north of Kemmerer.

Williams announced plans to add processing capacity to its Opal, WY, plant to accommodate gas production volumes from Shell Exploration and Production’s Pinedale Anticline play in southwestern Wyoming. Williams said the expansion will bring the capacity of the plant to about 1.1 Bcf/d from the current 750 MMcf/d.

Williams announced plans to add processing capacity to its Opal, WY, plant to accommodate gas production volumes from Shell Exploration and Production’s Pinedale Anticline play in southwestern Wyoming. Williams said the expansion will bring the capacity of the plant to about 1.1 Bcf/d from the current 750 MMcf/d.

Due to a scheduled pig run late last week resulting in “very high liquid levels” on the Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System, scheduled volumes from MOPS into interconnects with Florida Gas Transmission, Gulf South and Tejas Gas Pipeline remained at zero Monday until further notice (see Daily GPI, Nov. 11).