El Paso declared an Unauthorized Overpull Penalty situation late Thursday afternoon due to low linepack and forecasts of continued cold weather in its operating area. The Washington Ranch storage facility is experiencing maximum withdrawals, El Paso said. To insure system integrity, it will limit scheduled volumes at underperforming interconnects.

After letting Friday slide by with no System Overrun Limitation notice, Northern Natural Gas reimplemented the OFO-like notice for all market-area zones (ABC, D and E/F) Saturday. An SOL had been in effect earlier in the week for Tuesday through Thursday.

Only a day after changing its daily imbalance tolerance range to 0/-4 to hold down rising linepack, NOVA changed it back to the normal +4/-4 Friday.

ANR said repairs continued Friday at the site of a rupture on its Southwest Mainline near Viola, IL (see Daily GPI, Feb. 4) and were expected to be completed “soon,” but it had no timetable for the completion. No service interruptions have been necessary, a spokesman said.

Columbia Gulf Transmission (CGT) reminded customers that effective Monday (Feb. 10), its Customer Services function is moving from Houston to Charleston, WV. The change will bring both the Columbia Gas Transmission (TCO) and CGT Customer Services functions together at one location. CGT representatives may be reached during normal business hours at (304) 357-3703. For after-hours, weekends and holiday service, the on-call representative may be reached at (304) 541-2934. The emergency pager number is (877)-405-1898.

Questar Pipeline Co. said it is holding an open season to test market interest in an expansion of its Southern System, which provides deliveries to TransColorado, Kern River, Northwest Pipeline and Colorado Interstate Gas. The expected in-service date will be summer 2005. The project would involve installing compression and piping to provide additional firm transportation. Depending on volumes requested, the potential receipts from this expansion could be sourced from points across Questar’s entire pipeline system. The open season will close March 14. Bids may be mailed or faxed to Questar, attention Theresa Harrison, at (801) 324-2980. For details call Lynn Arnold (801) 324-2941. If Questar plans to proceed with the expansion, shippers with the highest value ranking will be notified by April 4. Questar said that any shipper holding capacity with an expiration date beyond July 1, 2005, should notify the pipeline if they wish to permanently release their capacity.

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