El Paso Corporation (EP)

[NovoMira]

Florida Gas issues shipper alert due to cold

Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:35pm EST

NEW YORK, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Florida Gas Transmission on Monday issued a warning to natural gas shippers on its pipeline system due to cold weather forecast for North and Central Florida overnight. The company issued an overage alert at 25 percent tolerance, meaning shippers must stay within 25 percent of scheduled volumes in order to maintain system integrity, the company said in a Web site posting.

Alerts, also called critical days, require natural gas shippers to adhere carefully to scheduled quantities. An overage alert signals that taking excess quantities offline would be harmful.

Florida Gas regularly issues shipper alerts as temperatures in the state vary extremely from normal, boosting gas and power demand as customers crank up heaters in the winter and air conditioners in the spring and summer months.

The coldest temperatures so far this season have plunged into the Deep South and Florida, with freeze warnings in effect overnight in many areas of the Southeast, according to AccuWeather. With cold air spreading across the South, high temperatures will struggle to reach 60 degrees Fahrenheit Monday, with highs along the Florida Peninsula well below normal, reaching only the 50s F, the forecaster added.

The 5,000-mile Florida Gas Transmission system runs from southern Texas to southern Florida, with a mainline capacity of 2.3 billion cubic feet per day.

The line is owned by Citrus Corp., which is owned by Southern Union Co.'s (SUG.N) Panhandle Energy and El Paso Corp (EP.N:)