Tag Archives: Natural gas

Pipeline Explosion Rocks Creek County, Oklahoma

Monday morning an explosion at a natural gas pipeline near Milfay, Oklahoma cut off gas services to several homes in the midst of the polar vortex sweeping the country.  Fortunately no one was hurt in the explosion of the 26-inch pipeline operated by Tulsa, OK based ONEOK, but investigators are still unsure about the cause of the blast.  A resident of nearby Depew saw the explosion.

Theresa McKinzie was tending to her horses near Depew when she saw a massive fireball.

She described it as shooting about 10-15 hundred feet in the air before collapsing.

“Then a few seconds following, there was a very large boom, shook everything, rattled the car everything else,” McKinzie said. – Pipeline Explosion Causes Large Fire Near Milfay, January 6, 2014 5:47PM, NewsOn6 Richard Clark and Ashlei King

ONEOK quickly turned off the gas flow, and the fire was out within the hour. But pipeline officials were forced to wait for the pipeline to cool before completing the investigation and beginning repairs to the gas pipeline.  Although no structures were damaged by the flames, natural gas service to several homes was cut off.  Temporary service is being arranged for those families.

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Expansion Pipeline Projects Not Expected to Bring Price Relief to New England…This Year

This winter, multiple pipeline expansion projects are expected to begin service in the Marcellus Shale.  The expansion projects will increase natural gas takeaway capacity from the Appalachian Basin, where the past two years production has increased significantly.  Focused primarily on trasportation to the New York/New Jersey and Mid-Atlantic regions, these new projects would have a limited benefit for consumers in New England.  Despite the increase in natural gas arriving in the region, price spikes during peak winter demand periods don’t seem to going anywhere.

EIA

EIA

The expansion projects would add at least 3.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of additional capacity to New York/New Jersey and Mid-Atlantic markets, and have expected in-service dates between 2013 and 2015.  More than 2.0 Bcf/d of expansions are expected to be in service for this winter alone.  The New York-New jersey Expansion project on a portion of Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission Company pipeline from Linden, New Jersey to Manhattan, New York, is the largest of these projects at 0.78 Bcf/d.  The Federal Energy Regulatory Agency (FERC) announced the start date for initial service of these expansions on October 17, 2013.

Despite the approval by FERC for the initial service to begin, consumers in New England would not see a significant benefit from the expansions until 2016.

The Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) pipeline, which takes gas from the Marcellus and other sources to consumers in New England, has traditionally operated at near full capacity during periods of peak winter demand.  The next planned expansion on AGT is the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) project which would enable the pipeline to flow north an additional 0.42 Bcf/d of gas received at its interconnect with Millennium Pipeline in Ramapo, New York.  The target in-service date for the AIM Project is November 1, 2016. – Mike Ford, Today in Energy, Marcellus natural gas pipeline project to primarily benefit New York and New Jersey, EIA, Oct. 30, 2013

Market Prices of natural gas (see graph from EIA) reflect the difference in construction activity for New York and New England Markets.  When compared to the nationwide benchmark price for gas purchased (Henry Hub in Erath, Louisana), monthly forward prices for gas purchased at AGT continue to spike in winter months.  However, the forward price at the Transco Zone 6-New York (TZZ6-NY) trading hub is similar to the Henry Hub forward price.

MarcellusShalePipelineChartEIA

EIA

 

Several additional projects are expected to increase the takeaway capacity of natural gas out of Marcellus Shale this winter to consumers in New York/New Jersey and Mid-Atlantic regions, but these expansion projects experienced delays that set back the service dates.

 

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Massive Pipeline Explosion in Harper County Oklahoma

Wednesday October 9, 2013 the fire after a gas line exploded in Harper Country, Oklahoma, near the town of Rosston northwest Laverne is under control.   All this happened just four miles south of the Kansas state line in the Oklahoma panhandle.  According to News 9, the massive fire is now under control as of 7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, however  several homes were evacuated.

No injuries have been reported, but four homes located within two miles of the site have been evacuated, according to Harper County Emergency Management Director, Conyetta Lenhanayer.  Who was notified about the explosion at 10:47 p.m.

Dan Croker, the Laverne Fire Department Chief, says that firefighters were allowing the fire to burn itself out.  The 30-inch pipeline belongs to Northern Natural Gas, who has representatives on the scene.

One of the evacuated homes belongs to Kevin Terry who’s home is only 200 yards from where the blast occurred on his property.  Terry says that he was sleeping when the blast rocked his home, and he left quickly with his wife and their 10-year old son.  They were not injured.

At first, Terry said, he thought a jet crashed in his backyard.  He said the house was shaking and would not stop.  They are unsure if any damage has been caused to their home at this time.

Cliff Brinson, Harper County Sheriff’s Deputy, says that the fire sounds like four roaring jet engines and has flames reaching two football fields high.

Gas Line Explosion Rocks Harper County; Families Forced Out of Homes – Oklahoma’s Own News9.com

 

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