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.

Destin will begin about three days of maintenance on its system Sept. 25 that will cut deliveries into Florida Gas Transmission in Zone 3 to zero. During normal operations FGT can schedule up to 500,000 MMBtu/d from Destin, but recently scheduled volumes have been about half as much.

Tennessee is taking bids for the purchase of interruptible third-party storage that it intends to use for potential temporary balancing requirements over the next six months. The gas must be accessible from either the 500 Leg or 800 Leg in the production area. Bids are due by 4 p.m. CDT Monday. For more information, call Joe Clements at (832) 676-5121 or Ruth Verwold at -5838.

Laguna Station’s #1 compressor will remain down through Jan. 14, 2004 due to a broken crankshaft, El Paso said. The force majeure event, which requires replacing the foundation under the unit, causes an incremental reduction of San Juan Crossover capacity by 20 MMcf/d. Current crossover capacity with Laguna 1 unavailable is 628 MMcf/d, El Paso said Thursday.

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