El Paso's Tennessee Gas line issues shipper alert

NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - El Paso Corp (EP.N) unit Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co said Thursday that, due to limited operational flexibility, it was issuing an operational flow order action alert effective Saturday for all balancing parties in several zones on its natural gas pipeline system.

OFOs and other alerts protect the operational integrity of a pipeline by requiring shippers to take action to balance their supply with their customers' usage on a daily basis within a specified tolerance band.

The alert, issued at 2 percent tolerance of scheduled quantities or 500 dekatherms, whichever is greater, requires shippers to stay within 2 percent of their scheduled volumes in order to maintain system integrity, the company said in a website posting.

The action alert will remain in effect until further notice.

The near 14,000-mile Tennessee Gas system stretches from the Mexican border to Canada, tapping supply regions in the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Appalachia and Canada.

The Tennessee system, with more than 100 pipeline interconnects, serves markets across the Midwest, mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Southeast including major the metropolitan areas of New York, Chicago and Boston.

Spectra Energy (SE.N) also issued a systemwide OFO action alert on its East Tennessee Natural Gas system due to the order issued by Tennessee Gas Pipeline.

ETNG said their OFO did not affect its ability to receive or deliver gas to customers, storage fields or pipelines, but asked customers to monitor daily takes out of the system greater than or equal to scheduled quantities minus 2 percent.

Spectra's Egan Hub Storage unit also said any intraday nomination increases or decreases to or from Tennessee Gas would be subject to Egan's capability to match physical flow to the change during the duration of the OFO. (Reporting by Eileen Moustakis; Editing by David Gregorio)