More natural gas transportation and storage capacity is on theway in Alabama as Bay Gas Storage Co. Ltd. released its plans for a24-inch pipeline in Mobile County which began construction in lateNovember. The EnergySouth subsidiary also has an additional saltdome storage cavern under construction.

Bay Gas’ new pipeline will travel 18 miles between aninterconnect at Koch Gateway’s 30-inch interstate pipeline west ofMobile to its existing pipeline system in Axis, AL. The new line isexpected to help bump up natural gas supply to meet the risingneeds of new gas-fired electric generating facilities along theGulf Coast. The pipeline is expected to be completed and in servicein June 2001.

“Because of all this demand for growth and storage space toserve the markets, we need to put in more capacity to move gas tothe interstates,” said Bill Coffeen, vice president of corporatedevelopment for EnergySouth. The new pipeline is essential inserving storage, but it is also necessary to increase capacity tothe mainline to serve gas-fired power plants, Coffeen added.

The company also reported that its storage expansion project,which was initially announced during July of 1999 is currentlyunder construction. The addition of a second salt dome storagecavern will increase the total working gas capacity of the sitefrom 2.1 Bcf to 5.6 Bcf (see NGI, July 12, 1999).

“For a reference, the cavern will be big enough to put theEmpire State Building in it, or the Eiffel Tower,” said Coffeen. Hesaid he expects the second cavern to cost $35 million.

The additional cavern, known as Cavern Two, will be located onthe company’s complex in McIntosh, AL, which is directly connectedto the interstate pipeline systems of Florida Gas Transmission,Koch Gateway and Mobile Gas Service Corp., a subsidiary ofEnergySouth.

The withdrawal capacity for Cavern Two will be 350 MMcf/d, withan injection capacity of 110 MMcf/d. Pre-existing Cavern One onlyhas a withdrawal capacity of 260 MMcf/d, and an injection capacityof 50 MMcf/d.

Bay Gas expects to have Cavern Two operational by December 2002,and fully operational by March 2004.

Alex Steis

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