After warning earlier Monday that it might be required to declare a Strained Operating Condition (SOC) due to excessive drafting of its system, El Paso later followed through by declaring an SOC-Draft to become effect Tuesday for eight specified locations. El Paso initially set the tolerance for negative daily imbalances at 10% but said it “will reduce the imbalance tolerance if conditions do not sufficiently improve. A combination of receipt underperformance and takes in excess of scheduled quantities has resulted in a substantial loss of linepack on [the El Paso] system over the past weekend with linepack at approximately 7,200 MMcf. Washington Ranch [storage facility] is on withdrawal at maximum rate.”

Citing colder weather expected later in the week, Northwest declared a Stage II (8% tolerance) Overrun Entitlement for all receiving parties north of Kemmerer (WY) Compressor Station. The entitlement takes effect Wednesday until further notice. The pipeline noted that as it had posted on its website, Northwest’s storage balance north of Kemmerer had fallen below 1.2 Bcf, which is one of the triggers for issuing entitlements and/or OFOs north of Kemmerer. “Additionally, the Kemmerer primary firm nominations of approximately 685,000 Dth/d exceed Northwest’s physical capacity through Kemmerer, which is currently averaging approximately 665,000 Dth/d. As a result, Northwest is issuing a Notice of Recall to “Affected Realignment Shippers” to immediately recall capacity pursuant to the OFO recall language in their contracts to the extent they have OFO exposure. Affected Realignment Shippers are shippers that hold firm transportation contracts with primary receipt points on both sides of Kemmerer but, due to releases the Affected Realignment Shippers have made, do not have the ability to realign volumes to primary points on their retained contracts. An Affected Realignment Shipper may be able to fulfill its OFO obligations without recalling releases, for example, by flowing gas from alternate receipt points or by decreasing its nominations northbound through Kemmerer.” Northwest said it will call shippers to seek voluntary cooperation through Kemmerer to avoid the issuance of an OFO, adding, “Currently, realignment shippers have approximately 125,000 Dth/d of unutilized receipt point capacity north of Kemmerer that can be called upon to provide relief before issuing OFO notices to Must-flow shippers.” See the bulletin board for Northwest’s suggestions on how customers can improve the situation.

Kern River said its system has “lost significant linepack due to supply shortages from the Pioneer plant and drafting by delivery point operators. Therefore, it is imperative that Kern River’s customers and their markets do not take more than their scheduled quantities.” Parties who owe imbalance gas to the pipeline were encouraged to arrange payback. Kern River also reminded shippers that the Pioneer plant will be down for scheduled maintenance Thursday and Friday, and thus they should arrange to realign supplies accordingly to ensure that further shortages/drafting does not occur.

Transco said it is completing work related to the Leidy-to-Long Island Expansion (see Daily GPI, May 23, 2006), which is scheduled to begin service next month. Part of the construction includes looping a segment between Compressor Station 505 and the mainline. Tie-in work requires that Transco take a section of its Leidy Line out of service for about five days starting Thursday. During this period interruptible services at five locations in Zone 6 will be zero; see the bulletin board for a list. In addition, the interconnection between Transco and Texas Eastern at Lambertville, NJ, will not be available for receipt or delivery.

Southern Natural Gas reported completing the return to service procedure for the 20-inch diameter Main Pass Franklinton Line and the 20-inch diameter Gate 6 Toca Loop Line in southeast Louisiana and that it has been approved by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The pipeline said it was in the process of finalizing work on two “Over Protection” devices that should be completed by noon Wednesday, when the lines should be able to return to service. That will allow the resumption of flows at the Bayou Gentilly and Delacroix receipt points.

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