FERC Wednesday issued an amended certificate that will allow SG Resources Mississippi LLC. to double the capacity of its proposed high-deliverability salt dome gas storage facility in Greene County, MS.

The facility, Southern Pines Energy Center, would have storage capacity of 24 Bcf, up from the initial proposed capacity of 12 Bcf. The project calls for the addition of a third underground cavern (8 Bcf working gas capacity) and a 26-mile dual, bidirectional pipeline that would interconnect Southern Pines with Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) and Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line in Mobile County, AL. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved SG Resources’ original storage project in October 2002.

In addition to the third cavern and pipe facilities, the amended storage project would raise the working gas capacity for each of the previously-certificated two salt caverns to 8 Bcf from 6 Bcf, as well as add two brine disposal wells. The Southern Pines storage facility, which is located on an 80-acre site, is still under construction, the FERC order said [CP02-229]. The first phase of the project is expected to be in operation in the fall, according to Houston-based SG Resources.

SG Resources’ expanded storage project “will still be located in what we found in the October 2002 order to be a competitive market and will still serve new demand in a region that is experiencing steady rapid growth in natural gas use…Accordingly, the Commission concluded that [the] amended storage project will have no adverse impact on existing storage providers or their captive customers,” the agency said.

FGT’s interconnection with the storage facility will accommodate receipts and deliveries of up to 1 Bcf/d, while the Transco interconnection will accommodate up to 600 MMcf/d, the order noted. The storage facility also has a bidirectional interconnect with Destin Pipeline, which will provide access to several pipes including Southern Natural Gas, Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Gulfstream and Gulf South Pipeline.

FERC granted SG Resources’ request that its market-based rate authority for storage, hub and wheeling services, which the agency approved for the original project, would apply to the amended facilities as well.

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