The records continue to fall in the East from severe winter cold. After numerous utilities reported record breaking demand on the systems in New York and the Mid Atlantic region last week, Williams subsidiary Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), which serves the entire East Coast region, said it set a new peak delivery record seven out of 10 days from Jan. 15-24.

On Jan. 23, Transco shattered its one-day record of 7.32 MMDth set on March 4, 2002. The new single day record is 8.34 MMDth, which represents enough natural gas to heat more than 30 million homes on an average day.

In addition to setting a new one-day record, recent deliveries also resulted in a new record three-day average. The new average for a three-day peak is 7.78 MMDth/d, established Jan. 22-24. The previous three-day peak record was 6.76 MMDth/d between Jan. 1-3, 2002.

“We’ve seen a lot of cold weather so far this year. We anticipated the increased demand and made appropriate preparations for it,” said Frank Ferazzi, Transco customer service vice president. “Three expansion projects that were placed into service in 2002 helped us meet all of our firm commitments. These projects increased capacity by a combined 496,000 Dth/d in key markets along our system.”

Due to the current rate structure on Transco, Williams said the operational record for throughput is not expected to have a significant impact on gas pipeline revenue in the first quarter.

Pipeline deliveries from Transco account for nearly two-thirds of the natural gas consumed in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The 10,500-mile pipeline system extends from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and offshore Gulf of Mexico through Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the New York City metro area. Utilities in many of those locations reported record breaking demand last week (see Daily GPI, Jan. 29).

Washington Gas Light Co., KeySpan Energy in New York and Long Island and Public Service Electric and Gas in New Jersey all reported new records for sendout and numerous power grid operators said they also were setting new winter peaks, particularly last Thursday and Friday. PJM Interconnection reported that the average temperature throughout its Mid Atlantic region service territory Thursday at 7 p.m. was 17 degrees.

©Copyright 2003 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.