Tennessee Gas Pipeline is planning a new 400 MMcf/d gas pipelinein the western Gulf of Mexico that will connect Tennessee’sexisting system to the High Island Offshore System (HIOS), pendingregulatory approvals.

The new line will provide new access to the deep-water areas onthe Texas side of the Gulf and to other supply areas connected tothe HIOS system. It also will provide producers access to VastarResources Inc.’s Grand Chenier processing plant, Tennessee’s 800leg Zone L pool, interstate and intrastate pipeline interconnects,and Tennessee’s markets in the Gulf Coast, Southeast, and Northeastregions.

Bob Gibb, director of supply for Tennessee Gas Pipeline, saidthe project has two main purposes: one is to provide access togrowing deep-water areas in the Texas Gulf and the other is toimprove the utilization of existing processing capacity in thearea.

“Vastar, which owns 100% of the Grand Chenier plant, has anunderutilization problem,” said Gibb. “The amount of gas flowingthrough that plant is limited. It is connected to two lateralsowned by Tennessee Gas Pipeline that go out into the shallow watersof the Gulf and there’s just not enough production surroundingthose shallow lines to serve the needs of the plant or to fill theplant to capacity.

“One of the things this pipeline we’re building will do is toprovide access to the deep-water Gulf. We’re going out to the pointwhere HIOS is coming in from the deep water. We’ll provide anoutlet for gas coming in on HIOS to not only continue on up throughthe UTOS and ANR systems but to come up through the Tennesseesystem, and that’s critical if you look out at [Exxon’s] DianaHoover [deep-water project], Kerr McGee’s [Boombang prospect] andsome of the deep-water developments taking place as we speak.”

Gibb said the pipeline would be well positioned in a growingsupply area. Many of the deep-water supply projects connected toHIOS are just getting started. He said Tennessee is assuming thefinancial risk of the project. The cost for development was notreleased.

The project will involve laying 17.5 miles of 20-inch pipe fromthe HIOS platform located in West Cameron Block 167 to a sub-seatie-in to Tennessee’s existing system in West Cameron Block 180.Incremental supplies will follow this route to Vastar’s GrandChenier plant onshore for processing. The plant has availablecapacity to process the entire 400 MMcf/d while continuing tomanage its existing throughput. Service is planned for Nov. 1.

“This project demonstrates our continuing commitment to attractincremental supplies to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline system,” saidTennessee Gas President Stephen C. Beasley. “Tennessee recognizesthe importance of providing Gulf of Mexico producers witheconomically attractive downstream processing and marketingopportunities, and this project affords that opportunity.”

Rocco Canonica

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