Florida Gas extends shipper alert amid warm temps
April 3rd, 2008 | by admin |NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - Florida Gas Transmission onThursday issued its third straight warning to natural gasshippers on its pipeline system, as low linepack and warmweather forecast for the state for the next few days wasexpected to boost demand.
The company issued an overage alert at 25 percenttolerance, meaning shippers must stay within 25 percent ofscheduled volumes in order to maintain system integrity, thecompany said in a Web site posting.
Alerts, also called critical days, require natural gasshippers to adhere carefully to scheduled quantities. Anoverage alert signals that taking excess quantities offlinewould be harmful.
Florida Gas regularly issues shipper alerts as temperaturesin the state vary extremely from normal, boosting gas and powerdemand as customers crank up air conditioners in spring andsummer and heaters in the winter.
Before a collision of moisture from the Atlantic and theGulf of Mexico stalls a cold front over the Deep South, warmer,moist air was expected to continue across some areas, accordingto AccuWeather.com.
High temperatures in major Florida cities were seen peakingin the low to mid-80 degrees Fahrenheit range, but “RealFeel”readings that measure heat and humidity levels were expected tomake it feel like closer to 90 degrees F in some areas, theforecaster said.
The 5,000-mile Florida Gas Transmission system runs fromsouthern Texas to southern Florida, with a mainline capacity of2.3 billion cubic feet per day.
The line is owned by Citrus Corp, which is owned bySouthern Union Co’s (SUG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Panhandle Energy and El Paso Corp(EP.N: Quote, Profile, Research). (Reporting by Eileen Moustakis)
