FERC Friday approved Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline LLC’s request to begin service on the bulk of a 135-mile, mostly 42-inch diameter pipeline that will carry regasified liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Cheniere LNG’s 2.6 Bcf Sabine Pass import terminal in Cameron Parish, LA, to multiple pipelines.

Kinder Morgan Louisiana got the green light to begin operating leg one of the facilities, which includes 132.2 miles of 42-inch diameter pipeline and associated facilities in Cameron, Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis and Acadia parishes; and a 2.3-mile, 24-inch diameter lateral connection with Florida Gas Transmission’s (FGT) compressor station in Acadia Parish. This leg will have firm peak-day capacity of up to 2,130 MDth/d.

The Kinder Morgan Louisiana pipeline, which was certificated in mid-2007, will connect with affiliate Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL), Columbia Gulf Transmission, FGT, ANR Pipeline, Sabine Pipe Line LLC, Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Texas Eastern Transmission, Texas Gas Transmission, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line, Trunkline Gas and the Southwest Loop Delivery Point (see Daily GPI, June 25, 2007).

The second leg of the $517 million project has not yet been authorized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for service. It consists of a one-mile, 36-inch diameter pipe that will extend from the Sabine Pass terminal to a point of interconnection with NGPL’s pipeline located north of the terminal. It would have a firm peak-day capacity of up to 1,265 MDth/d, and would include 200,000 Dth/d of capacity that NGPL will lease to Kinder Morgan Louisiana on a long-term, firm basis in southwest Louisiana.

This project was conceived by Total Gas & Power North America Inc. and Chevron U.S.A. Inc., which issued a request for proposals seeking a company to build a pipeline that could transport regasified LNG from the tailgate of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, where each company has 1 Bcf of firm capacity. The entire capacity of the Kinder Morgan Louisiana pipeline has been awarded to the two companies, which have signed precedent agreements, according to Kinder Morgan.

Kinder Morgan Louisiana is a subsidiary of Houston-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP.

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