Reason behind California gas spike:
Transwestern line work to cut natgas flows to Calif.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 5 (Reuters) - A day's maintenance on Tuesday in Transwestern Pipeline Co.'s natural gas system in the Southwestern United States will cut gas flows to California by 615 million cubic feet, or 62 percent.
Transwestern, a subsidiary of Enron Corp. (NYSE:ENE - news), will conduct scheduled maintenance on a part of the San Juan Lateral to improve the line's efficiency, th??? page said Monday. The web page is located at www.tw.enron.com/twdb/etfr_critical_notices.html.
The Gi???uns from west Texas to California, usually operates at around 850,000 million cubic feet a day (mmcfd) but will be reduced to around 235 mmcfd during the maintenance.
News of the scheduled curtailment sent prices soaring again at the Southern California Border, a major delivery point, by as much as $5 per million British thermal units to the low-$30 area, traders said.
Socal gas prices were sharply lifted late last week by gas cuts in El Paso Natural Gas' (EPNG) pipeline system due to three-day maintenance on a line extending to California that began Saturday and was set to end Monday.
The work was expected to cut flows by around 400 mmcfd, or roughly 50 percent.
EPNG, a unit of El Paso Energy (NYSE:EPG - news), was expected to restore most gas service on the line for gas day Tuesday, a company spokesman said Monday. |
