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Power
US Pipeline Group Says Gas Flowing, Damage Seen As Minor So
Far
(platts.com - 08/31/05 - Knoxville, Tennessee )
Although damage assessments are still ongoing, US natural gas pipelines
so far Wednesday are reporting only minor damage to compressor stations and
gas processing facilities as a result of Hurricane Katrina, according to
Martin Edwards III, vice president of the Interstate Natural Gas Assn of
America.
"The systems are operational, and gas is flowing. Under the
circumstances, that's pretty good," Edwards told Platts. The next challenge
for the industry will be assessing damage and bringing production back
on-line, he said.
Compressors and processing facilities
tend to be the most difficult things to repair on the gas
delivery system, he noted. "Pipelines are a lot easier to
fix. It's just round steel--it's not complicated," Martin
said. "But the compression and processing units--that's what
you want to pay attention to first. That's the triage."
Edwards said he had not heard of any out-of-the-ordinary curtailments on
the system's gas pipeline system. The one concern has been deliveries to
Florida, which are highly dependent on Gulf of Mexico supply, he noted. "But
at this point they are still getting the gas they need and all obligations are
being met," Edwards said.
"This is an industry that has a lot of experience in dealing with
emergency situations on repairing pipelines," he said.
For more information, take a trial to
Platts Oilgram News at http://oilgramnews.platts.com.
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