Articles tagged Mexico

Hurricane Georges roared through a deserted eastern Gulf of Mexico today, the fifth of what has been an alphabet soup of named storms to hit in four of the last five weeks, once again sending producers scurrying for shore, shutting in production or putting wells on automatic pilot.

Hurricane Georges continued along a path yesterday that revealeda stunning possibility that the Gulf of Mexico could be paid afifth unwelcome visit by a named storm this hurricane season,making 1998 one of the most active in recent memory. And therestill are more than two entire months left for mother nature tobrew up even more trouble. Two more tropical storms are growing inintensity right behind Georges.

Noticing continued futures strength and a growing threat of newstorm shut-ins in the Gulf of Mexico, cash prices built onTuesday's gains with even bigger ones Wednesday. Increases oneither side of 20 cents were common at nearly all points. TheCalifornia market, far removed from Gulf storm influence, sawsmaller gains of about a dime, although a Malin rise of 13 centsnearly fulfilled one source's prediction of up 20 cents there (seeDaily GPI, Sept. 16) based on Tuesday's intra-Alberta pricestrength.

The yet-to-be-completed Destin Pipeline is growing with plansfor two extensions to its system in the eastern Gulf of Mexicoproduction area. Destin Pipeline Co. announced two contiguousextensions, with a total estimated cost of $52 million, will servetwo development projects that recently dedicated production tothe1 Bcf/d Destin.

Puzzling out what lies where in the Gulf of Mexico will beeasier with the availability of digital coordinate data for all ofthe Gulf's gas and oil pipelines. The U.S. Department of theInterior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) has introduced anautomated pipeline mapping system that covers 20,000 miles ofpipelines in federal waters.

The first phase of the Dauphin Island Gathering System (DIGS)expansion was put in service last week, making it the first easternGulf of Mexico pipeline to transport deep-water production toonshore facilities in Alabama. When complemented by the secondphase of its expansion, DIGS - a project of the Dauphin IslandGathering Partners (DIGP) - will have the capability to deliver upto 1.1 Bcf/d to onshore markets and pipelines in south Alabama andsouth Louisiana. The system will have hub platform capabilities atmultiple locations on the Outer Continental Shelf and in deep-waterareas. It is expandable with the addition of compression.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline's Express 500 Project, which offers firmtransportation through the bottlenecked Gulf of Mexico supply area,won more than 1 Bcf/d of capacity requests from customers duringthe project's first open season. "We believe that this level ofparticipation demonstrates the need for incremental capacity fromthe Gulf Coast," said Tennessee President John Somerhalder II.

Despite predictions of waning gas supplies and worries over Gulfof Mexico production potential from some, several companies aretouting boom years for reserve replacement with some settingrecords. The strong reserve replacement came in a year when gasproduction is said to have seen only a modest increase of abouthalf a Bcf. Much of the good news for reserve replacement comesfrom oil and international operations, but domestic gas fared well,too, according to some company reports.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline has filed plans to increase capacity onsix separate pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico that together wouldrepresent an increase of over 720 MMcf/d in offshore lines owned byTennessee and other parties and a net increase in deliverabilityout of the Gulf of 200 MMcf/d.

Depending on favorable Gulf of Mexico weather, Sea Robin expectsto restore flows on its 16-inch West Cameron 580 lateral by Sunday(see Daily GPI, Feb. 3). The force majeure that was implementedJan. 27 because of a leak will remain in effect until repairs havebeen completed.