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Force majeure declared
Furie informs Enstar freezing conditions have blocked Kitchen Lights gas
Alan Bailey Petroleum News
On Jan. 23 Furie Operating Alaska formally notified Alaska Pipeline Co., the gas transportation affiliate of Enstar Natural Gas Co., that, due to unusually low temperatures, the gas transportation infrastructure from the Kitchen Lights gas field in Cook Inlet had become blocked, preventing the delivery of gas from the field. Furie has a gas supply agreement with Enstar for gas from Kitchen Lights - Furie characterized the blockage of its gas delivery system as a force majeure event, under the terms of the supply agreement with APC and Enstar.
Problems started early January The letter from Furie said that, starting on Jan. 5, with unusually cold weather on the Kenai Peninsula, the company started experiencing problems with its gas delivery system from Kitchen Lights. It appears that the low temperatures caused hydrate plugs to develop both at the field’s onshore process facility and in the 15-mile subsea pipeline that runs between the field’s offshore production platform and the onshore facility. The unprocessed gas from the platform contains water that is removed in the onshore facility - presumably under low temperature conditions the freezing water would combine with the gas to form solid hydrates.
As below-average temperatures continued, further freezing resulted in the pipeline becoming completely blocked on Jan. 11, thus preventing Furie from continuing gas production from the Kitchen Lights wells. Furie continued to meet its contractual obligations by purchasing gas and using gas that it had previously warehoused in storage. However, in its Jan. 23 letter Furie told APC that, having unsuccessfully tried several techniques to unblock its system, the company was having to suspend its gas deliveries. Hence the declaration of force majeure.
Enstar maintains services Lindsay Hobson, Enstar communications manager, told Petroleum News in a Jan. 29 email that Enstar had not received contracted volumes of gas from Furie since Jan. 19. Fortunately, the weather in Southcentral Alaska has warmed up, presumably alleviating the pressure on gas supplies. And Enstar has been able to use gas that it had stored in the Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska facility on the Kenai Peninsula.
“As a result Enstar customers have not experienced an interruption on account of this event to date even though Furie remains offline,” Hobson wrote. “Enstar is evaluating all options to continue to provide safe and reliable natural gas service to its customers.”
According to Enstar’s current tariff, the utility anticipates obtaining about 23 percent of its base gas supplies from Furie between July 2018 and July 2019. Hilcorp Alaska is expected to meet much of Enstar’s remaining supply needs, but with AIX Energy also supplying some gas.
Efforts to fix problem In its letter to APC Furie said that it had tried installing a temporary line heater to pre-heat the production stream from the platform; it had tried decreasing the pressure in the system; it had tried squeezing methanol around the plugs; and it has been trying to thaw the pipeline.
Furie has also sought advice from 11 different companies to determine what other techniques might be tried. A possibility is the use of coiled tubing to clear the blockages, but neither the equipment nor the expertise for implementing this technique are currently available in Alaska, Furie told APC.
At the time of going to press Furie had not responded to a request from Petroleum News for further information.
The Kitchen Lights field produces gas from well drilled from the offshore Julius R platform. The raw gas from the wells is passed through the subsea pipeline to the onshore production facility near East Foreland on the Kenai Peninsula. The onshore facility dehydrates and remove liquids from the produced gas, for the delivery of utility-grade dry gas into the Kenai Peninsula gas pipeline network.
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