Reply #5: Bottleneck on the gas transmission lines

[Xipe Totec]

Gas must be moved north of the bottleneck in the Summer and early Fall to storage fields. The peak transmission capacity of the pipelines is not sufficient to satisfy Winter demand. During the Winter, the gas in storage is drawn down. Because of the hurricanes in the gulf, production was curtailed during this critical period and the storage fields will not be fully stocked. The gas production fields are shut down whenever there is a hurricane in the gulf, so production is lost even if the facilities are not damaged.