<article><p class="lead">Texas power and natural gas providers continued to struggle to restore service today as below-freezing temperatures stretched into their fourth day, with 2.7mn customers in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid still without power.</p><p>Natural gas well freeze-offs and pipeline compressor power losses continued to block gas from reaching gas-fired power plants today. Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) declared a <i>force majeure</i> as a result of a loss of power at its Thomaston compressor station. Tennessee Gas pipeline issued a systemwide operational flow order for over-takes out of the system and under-deliveries into it.</p><p>Natural gas pipeline linepack, which must be maintained for the gas to move through the line, can be at risk when the production that feeds the pipe declines or customers take too much gas off the line. The US Energy department yesterday said about 6.3 Bcf/d of gas production in the region was down because of freeze-offs and processing plant outages. </p><p>"Some producers, especially in the Permian basin and panhandle, have reported experiencing unprecedented freezing conditions, which caused concerns for employee safety and affected production," the Texas Railroad Commission said.</p><p>Extreme cold causes spikes in demand at the same time that it materially impacts hydrocarbon production, which limits the ability to secure gas to fuel the natural gas-fired power fleet, analysts at Tudor Pickering Holt said today. The US needs to maintain and add sufficient weatherized dispatchable generation to avoid this in the future, analysts said.</p><p>Natural Gas Pipeline (NGPL) has lifted a <i>force majeure</i> it declared yesterday for flows to the Sabine Pass LNG terminal. The <i>force majeure</i> stemmed from horsepower issues at its compressor stations in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.</p><p class="bylines">By T.L. Hamilton</p></article>
