Kern River Gas Transmission is seeking FERC approval to build a Kramer Junction delivery point, consisting of a tap and meter station in San Bernardino County, CA, to deliver up to 500 MMcf/d from a mainline jointly owned with Mojave Pipeline into a new lateral planned by Southern California Gas (SoCalGas).

The proposed Kramer Junction delivery point would be an alternative to Kern River’s existing Wheeler Ridge delivery point into SoCalGas’ system, where take-away capacity has been severely constrained. “The availability of Kramer Junction delivery capacity to SoCalGas…would reduce competition for the existing take-away capacity from the Wheeler Ridge delivery point,” Kern River said in its application to FERC.

Kern River said various shippers already have asked to realign a total of 328 MMcf/d of firm delivery point entitlement from Wheeler Ridge to Kramer Junction, and have signed transportation agreements to that effect. The Williams pipeline noted that it will have priority rights to the full 500 MMcf/d of delivery point capacity, while Mojave will have only “ancillary” rights to use the proposed capacity.

The pipeline has asked the Commission to issue a certificate within 30 days, noting that it needs to place the proposed Kramer Junction delivery point in service concurrently with SoCalGas’ planned 32-mile, 30-inch diameter Adelanto Lateral by Feb. 1, 2002. Kern River estimated that the construction cost of the project will be $2.1 million, all of which will be reimbursed by SoCalGas.

Kern River said it originally had planned to build the Kramer Junction delivery point under its existing blanket-certificate authorization. But due to a delay in obtaining the needed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service clearances to build the facilities in an “environmentally sensitive area,” the critical habitat for the desert tortoise, it is seeking case-specific authorization from FERC, the pipeline said.

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