AGL-owned gas co. in Virginia cited for multiple pipeline violations

RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia Natural Gas has agreed to pay as much as $1.8 million in penalties to settle state regulators' allegations of multiple pipeline safety violations.
In two settlements with the State Corporation Commission covering more than 40 violations, the company didn't admit or deny the allegations. It agreed to make various changes in its practices and spend $15 million for pipeline-replacement projects.
Under the settlement, VNG cannot recoup the cost of the penalties, repairs or operational changes from rate-payers. The company, based in Norfolk, provides natural gas service to about 271,000 customers in Hampton Roads.
The violations cite failures of the company's workers to follow proper procedures while installing, repairing or conducting maintenance on or around its pipelines. Inspectors for the commission's Division of Utility and Railroad Safety found improper welding methods, the installation of a defective service line and a VNG contractor smoking while working in an excavation near the gas system, according to one settlement. It also cited the company's failure to keep required records or manuals.
One settlement focused on VNG's lack of necessary measures to ensure that underwater pipelines are protected against corrosion. The company completed construction last year of an underwater link between its Peninsula and South Hampton Roads systems. In August, according to the settlements, sections of that pipeline floated from their proper position and had to be fixed.
The instances occurred across VNG's system between 2006 and 2009, said Ken Schrad, a commission spokesman.
No one was harmed and no service was affected as a result of the violations, said Tami Gerke, a spokeswoman for AGL Resources Inc., the Atlanta company that owns VNG.
"Our industry records show no major issues with our pipelines," Gerke wrote in an e-mail response to questions. "Due to regular inspections such as the one completed by the VSCC and audits done regularly by VNG, our customers can be assured that any issues are addressed immediately."
Under the settlements, the company will pay $1 million up front. The commission could waive part or all of the remaining $800,000, depending on the company's compliance with the required remediation, Schrad said.
That includes the hiring of an outside consultant to evaluate the corrosion-control measures. The company must complete most changes by Aug. 15, 2011.

Body of missing AGL Resources exec found in Mississippi River

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The New Orleans Police Department reported on the afternoon of March 9 that missing AGL Resources Inc. executive Douglas Schantz's body was found underneath a dock along the Mississippi River.
Police said he had all of his jewelry and credit cards, leading them to think his death was due to accidental drowning.
Authorities recovered the body fitting the general description of the executive missing since March 5 near where Schantz, 54, likely fell into the water, Assistant Superintendent Marlon Defillo of the New Orleans Police Department said on the afternoon of March 9, before the body was positively identified by the family.
Schantz went missing after leaving the Razoo Bar and Patio on Bourbon Street around 2 a.m. before walking along the Mississippi River near the steamboat Natchez, where he was last seen on video. Authorities said he had been drinking and appeared disoriented.
"The last video of Mr. Schantz is that, is when he was near the boat Natchez, walking on a two to three feet wide walkway near the river," New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley said.
According to wwltv.com, the Web site of the Crescent City's CBS television affiliate, Riley said the video shows Schantz around 2:40 a.m.
"There's a continuous stream of video that shows him walking to the river, by himself, and at some point he got to the river but then goes out of the view of the video," said Alan Chapple, manager of corporate communications for AGL Resources.
New Orleans daily The Times-Picayune reported on the afternoon of March 9 that in the video, Schantz jumps a fence and walks under the Natchez's gangway to an area marked as restricted, where he then disappeared before his death.
Schantz was president of Sequent Energy Management, a unit of Atlanta-based AGL Resources. He was first reported missing when he didn’t meet his daughter for a flight home.
Schantz was in New Orleans to donate $25,000 to Tulane University, where his daughter is a student.

Police seek AGL exec who disappeared on Bourbon Street

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Police are searching the French Quarter in New Orleans and checking with businesses for surveillance videotapes of a Texas energy executive who disappeared after walking out of a Bourbon Street bar.
About 30 detectives are looking for 54-year-old Douglas Schantz, the top executive of an AGL Resources unit. He was last seen leaving the Razzoo Bar and Patio about 2 a.m. on March 5, where his exit was caught on video cameras.
Police say there has been no activity on his credit cards or cell phone.
Schantz is president of Houston-based Sequent Energy Management. He was in New Orleans to give Tulane University a $25,000 gift during a reception on March 4.
After the dinner, he was with colleagues on Bourbon Street for about two hours.
Mark Homestead, a senior vice president at Sequent, said Schantz did not have too much to drink and left the bar before the rest of the group.
He didn’t make his scheduled flight back to Houston, and hasn’t called or e-mailed colleagues or his family, company spokeswoman Tami Gerke said on March 8.
Houston police say he also never made it back to his hotel, which is within walking distance of where he was last seen on Bourbon Street.
Police say his credit cards and ATM card have not been used.
“We are deeply concerned about Doug, and personnel from AGL Resources have been working around the clock with law enforcement agencies to determine Doug’s whereabouts,” said John Somerhalder, president and chief executive of Atlanta-based AGL.
AGL employees and Schantz’s family have been circulating flyers in the New Orleans French Quarter.
Sequent manages pipeline capacity for AGL and for Georgia gas marketers.

Georgia speaker resigns amid allegations of affair with pipeline lobbyist

ATLANTA - Glenn Richardson, Georgia’s first GOP speaker of the House since Reconstruction, resigned on Dec. 3 after a suicide attempt and amid allegations by his ex-wife that he had an affair with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist. The affair occurred while the Georgia House was considering legislation that allowed AGL to build a $300 million pipeline. Richardson co-sponsored the legislation, which ultimately died without being passed.
Richardson revealed in November that he had attempted suicide by swallowing sleeping pills while depressed following the divorce. But his ex-wife in November went on local TV and accused him of having "a full-out affair" with the lobbyist while they were still married, and claimed that the suicide attempt was nothing more than an attempt to gain attention and engender sympathy.
Richardson did not address those allegations in a brief statement issued through the House communications office in which he said he will leave both his position as speaker and his House seat on Jan. 1. He did mention in the statement that he had grappled with depression resulting in his suicide attempt.
"I fear that the media attention of this week has deflected this message and done harm to many people who suffer from this condition," he said of his depression in the statement.
The 49-year-old Richardson, from Hiram, Ga., once thought to be a serious contender for governor, had gone back to shaking hands at chicken-and-grits fundraisers after trying to kill himself. But he had been silent since his ex-wife claimed on local television that he slept with the 34-year-old AGL lobbyist.
Sheriff's deputies found him on Nov. 8, slumped semiconscious on the edge of the bathtub at his west Georgia home after he called his mother to say he had swallowed pills. A suicide note and a silver .357 Magnum were on the counter next to him. The contents of the note have not been released. Richardson also called his ex-wife, who he now accuses of failing to report to 911 his phone call to her during the attempted suicide.

Pipeline limited partnerships rank-ordered by yield

The following list rank-orders pipeline limited partnerships from the ones with the highest annual yield to those with the lowest annual yield. Data is as of the market close on Sept. 4, 2009, before the long Labor Day weekend.
Linn Energy LLC. (LINE) – developer of oil and gas properties. Attractive 11.88 percent dividend yield.
Ferrellgas Partners LP (FGP) – distributor of propane and related equipment and supplies. Attractive 10.24 percent dividend yield.
Amerigas Partners LP (APU) – retail propane distributor play was. Attractive 9.71 percent dividend yield.
Teekay LNG Partners LP (TGP) – natural gas and crude oil shipping play. Attractive 9.69 percent dividend yield.
Inergy LP (NRGY) – seller, distributor, storage, marketing, trade, processing, and fractionation of propane, natural gas, and other natural gas liquids company. Attractive 9.59 percent dividend yield.
Duncan Energy Partners LP (DEP) – transporting, marketing, and storing natural gas company. Attractive 9.41 percent dividend yield.
Enbridge Energy Partners LP (EEP) – oil & gas pipeline play. Attractive 9.21 percent dividend yield.
Kinder Morgan Management LLC (KMR) – energy transportation and storage company. Attractive 8.89 percent dividend yield.
Teppco Partners LP (TPP) – petroleum pipeline play. Attractive 8.88 percent dividend yield.
Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) – natural gas midstream play. Attractive 8.70 percent dividend yield.
Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) – midstream energy oil and natural gas services play. Attractive 8.15 percent dividend yield.
Buckeye Partners Ltd. (BPL) – refined petroleum products play. Attractive 7.95 percent dividend yield.
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners (BWP) – natural gas transportation and storage play. Attractive 8.32 percent dividend yield.
NuStar Energy LP (NS) – storage and transportation of petroleum products. Attractive 8.00 percent dividend yield.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) – energy transportation and storage company. Attractive 7.97 percent dividend yield.
Suburban Propane LP (SPH) – distributor of propane, fuel oil, kerosene, diesel fuel, gasoline, and refined fuels. Attractive 7.97 percent dividend yield.
Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE) – engages in natural gas midstream, transportation, and storage; and retail of propane. Attractive 7.86 percent dividend yield.
Magellan Midstream Partners (MMP) – engages in the transportation, storage, and distribution of refined petroleum products. Attractive 7.83 percent dividend yield.
Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA) – oil and gas storage and transportation play. Attractive 7.55 percent dividend yield.
TC Pipelines LP (TCLP) – natural gas transportation. Attractive 7.51 percent dividend yield.
Sunoco Logistics Partners LP (SXL) – transport and storage of refined products and crude oil player. Attractive 7.42 percent dividend yield.
Western Gas Partners LP (WES) – midstream natural gas play. Attractive 7.31 percent dividend yield.
Enterprise GP Holdings LP (EPE) – midstream energy play. Attractive 7.23 percent dividend yield.
NuStar GP Holdings, LLC (NSH) – transportation and storage of petroleum products play. Attractive 7.20 percent dividend yield.
Inergy Holdings LP (NRGP) – retail and wholesale propane supply, marketing, and distribution company approaching 52-week highs. Attractive 7.12 percent dividend yield.
El Paso Partners Pipeline LP (EPB) – operator of natural gas transportation pipelines, storage, and other midstream assets. Attractive 6.74percent dividend yield.
Magellan Midstream Holdings LP (MGG) – petroleum products transport and storage play. Attractive 6.52 percent dividend yield.
AGL Resources (AGL) – natural gas play. Attractive 5.02 percent dividend yield.