Petal Gas Storage L.L.C. ate a little crow at FERC last week. Itconceded that its original proposal for expanding thedeliverability capacity serving its storage facilities was a betterplan after all.

In an application filed last week, Petal again asked theCommission for the go-ahead to build 59 miles of pipeline from itsstorage header facility near Hattiesburg, MS, to interconnectionswith Southern Natural Gas, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line andDestin Pipeline [CP01-69].

This was nearly identical to the plan that Petal Gas proposed inDecember 1999 after Southern Company contracted for 7 Bcf ofPetal’s storage capacity. Southern estimated it needed 700,000MMBtu of firm deliverability into the three pipelines, and amaximum daily receipt quantity of 350,000 MMBtu from the pipes.

But Petal Gas ditched the proposal after El Paso Energy acquiredits then parent, Crystal Gas Storage Inc., in January 2000.Instead, it proposed an expansion of its existing interconnect withTennessee Pipeline, an El Paso affiliate.

“Subsequent events, however, made clear that the Tennessee 500Line alternative would not provide sufficient capacity for Petal’slong-range plans, and that Petal would need to reconsider itsoriginal proposal,” the storage company told FERC last week. Theresults of a March 2000 open season revealed that Petal “would soonneed the entire capacity of a 36-inch pipeline providinginterconnections with Transco, SNG and Destin.”

Susan Parker

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