Spectra says Sandy caused outages, no customer impact

Spectra Energy said on Tuesday that Hurricane Sandy caused power and communication outages at "the majority" of its facilities in the New York-New Jersey area, but customers on its Northeast natural gas pipeline systems remained unaffected.

The Houston-based natural gas infrastructure company said it continued to assess its facilities after Sandy made landfall on the U.S. East Coast late on Monday.

"Following last night's storm, we have begun early assessment of our employees and facilities," the company said in a website posting. It expects to have further information as the week progresses.

On Monday, Spectra said its Lambertville compressor station in West Amwell Township, New Jersey, and the Suffern meter station in New York were shut as the storm approached the region, but no impact on customers was expected.

Back-up generators were in place in anticipation of power outages.

The company also halted construction work on its New Jersey-New York pipeline project as of Sunday.

(Reporting by Eileen Houlihan; Editing by Dale Hudson)