Tulsa World: Transco pipeline reduces capacity

Home > Business

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Transco pipeline reduces capacity
Williams Cos. takes the action as Tropical Storm Ida approaches the Gulf Coast.

By ROD WALTON World Staff Writer
Published: 11/10/2009 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 11/10/2009 8:31 AM

Williams Cos. Inc.'s vast Transco natural gas pipeline will lose about 250 million cubic feet per day in capacity as Tropical Storm Ida rumbles through the Gulf of Mexico and makes U.S. landfall, company officials said Monday.

The decrease is barely 3 percent of the 10,500-mile Transco's average capacity of 8.4 billion cubic feet per day, but Williams is shutting down some coastal processing and moving employees as a safety precaution.

Ida, which was downgraded from a hurricane Monday, should hit the Gulf Coast on Tuesday morning, forecasters said.

A Williams spokeswoman, Julie Gentz, said Williams' Canyon Station and Devils Tower offshore platforms were evacuated. Williams' Mobile Bay gas-processing center in Coden, Ala., also was shut down because of low natural gas volumes.

"Too soon to say when employees will return to offshore facilities, but in general, as soon as it's safe," Gentz said.

Ida would have been the first hurricane to make U.S. landfall this season. Heavy rains in Ida's wake caused flooding and landslides last week that killed more than 100 peoplel in El Salvador.

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008 temporarily halted production for Williams and other area energy producers or transporters.

Transco moves natural gas from throughout the Gulf Coast to markets in the East and Northeast.

Rod Walton 581-8457
rod.walton@tulsaworld.com By ROD WALTON World Staff Writer

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Reader Comments

Show: Most Recent Comment First

Add your comment

0 comments have been made on this story so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Williams shuts some operations as Ida approaches," which was published on 11/9/2009.

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.