FERC approved Gulf Crossing Pipeline Co. LLC’s request to place Phase I of its Panda Power Lateral Project facilities into service. The authorized facilities include 1.76 miles of 16-inch diameter pipeline.

The entire length of the lateral that Gulf Crossing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP, has proposed to complete by mid-2014 is 16.5 miles from its Sherman Compressor Station in Texas to an interconnection with the 758-MW Panda Sherman Power Plant I, which is expected to be completed by year-end 2014 (CP13-64).

The $26.3 million project would extend Gulf Crossing’s existing facilities to an interconnection with the new gas-fired power plant being developed by Panda Sherman Power LLC, which would provide added power to the north central and northeast regions of Texas (see Daily GPI, Sept. 13). The gas-fueled, combined cycle power plant is located about 60 miles north of Dallas and near the Barnett Shale.

The lateral, when completed, would be capable of supplying up to 278,000 Dth/d of firm transportation service. Gulf Crossing said it has entered into a transportation agreement with Panda Sherman Power for up to 125,000 Dth/d of firm service to the power plant over a period of 20 years.

The pipeline had asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a predetermination to roll the costs of the lateral project into its existing Part 284 transportation rates in a future Natural Gas Act Section 4 general rate proceeding, but FERC denied the request.

Gulf Crossing is a 354-mile, 42-inch diameter pipeline that provides takeaway capacity from the Barnett Shale in Texas and the Caney/Woodford Shale in Oklahoma. It begins in Sherman and extends to the Perryville, LA, area.