The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) the go-ahead to begin construction on a portion of its proposed looping and compression expansion of its mainline pipeline system in Tennessee and Mississippi.

The initial construction calls for seven miles of pipeline looping to be added at Union Church Discharge in Mississippi, and compressor modifications to be made at Tetco’s Egypt and Barton, MS, compressor stations and at the Mount Pleasant compressor station in Tennessee, a spokeswoman for the Duke Energy pipeline said.

This portion of the so-called M-1 project will provide 57 MMcf/d of new firm capacity by May 2004 for one customer, Carolina Power & Light (CP&L). Construction is scheduled to start Feb. 1, according to Duke Energy.

The entire expansion is expected to create total capacity of 197,147 Dth/d when completed in late 2004 or 2005, depending on the market needs and requirements of the prospective shippers. In addition to CP&L, other intended shippers will be the City of Cartersville, GA, and Choctaw Gas Generation LLC in Mississippi.

In its initial application, Tetco said the complete M-1 project would loop approximately 32 miles of Tetco’s mainline system with 36-inch diameter pipe and boost compression by about 28,000 horsepower. The $66 million project received a FERC certificate last February [CP02-381].

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