FERC has issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC (Transco) for the proposed St. James Supply Project, a methane-to-methanol facility under construction in Louisiana that could produce 1.8 million metric tons/year of commercial-grade methanol.

The St. James Supply Project would enable the Williams affiliate to provide 161,500 Dth/d of firm transportation capacity from its existing Station 65 Zone 3 Pool in St. Helena Parish, LA, southward along Transco’s Southeast Louisiana Lateral [CP17-58].

Transco has estimated the cost of the project facilities at $33.5 million, with a target in-service date of Jan. 1, 2019.

A new interconnection would enable Transco to deliver natural gas to a $1.85 billion methanol manufacturing complex in St. James Parish being built by Yuhuang Chemical Inc. (YCI). Transco and the Chinese-based YCI executed a binding precedent agreement for 20 years for all of the project’s firm transportation service. YCI plans to have the methanol plant begin service in late 2019.

The project calls for constructing a 0.72 mile, 20-inch diameter pipeline, the St. James Supply Lateral. It also calls for constructing the Old River Road metering and regulating (M&R) station at the interconnection with the YCI plant, the Cajun Road M&R station on Transco’s mainline in Pointe Coupee Parish, LA, and modifications to Transco’s existing Compressor Stations 63 and 65 to allow for bi-directional flow.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the order without comment on Thursday as part of the consent agenda at its monthly public meeting in Washington, DC. FERC conducted an environmental review of the project last summer.