KNG Energy, Inc., a Findlay, OH-based natural gas pipeline company, has signed an agreement with EnergyGateway to auction portions of its intrastate pipeline capacity running across northern Ohio, connecting with Crossroads Pipeline in the west and Columbia Gas of Ohio and Dominion East Ohio in the east.

KNG already has posted 7,000 dth/d of capacity available November through March for deliveries into East Ohio and 5,000 dth/d for deliveries into Columbia Gas of Ohio. These two packages, in addition to current load, will about fill out firm transportation for this winter, Sandy Roller, manager of operations for KNG, said. However, if there is additional interest, “it wouldn’t be hard to expand the system,” Roller said. She pointed out the line is on a direct path from the Chicago area where major supplies from western Canada are now funneling in through Alliance Pipeline.

The 135-mile long, 12 inch KNG line runs to an eastern terminus in Mantua, Portage County, approximately 35 miles west of the Ohio/Pennsylvania border, from the Crossroads connection at Cygnet, OH. The connection with Crossroads “is less than 12 cents away from the Chicago hub where Crossroads is interconnected with Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL) at Schererville, IN,” KNG said. Crossroads also is expected to connect soon with Vector Pipeline, which taps into the multi-pipeline Joliet Hub south of Chicago.

Other possibilities are created by the recent acquisition of Midwestern Gas Transmission by Northern Border, KNG points out. For instance deliveries to a potential interconnect between Midwestern and Panhandle Eastern could be redelivered to Crossroads at Defiance, OH. KNG has already used the Panhandle Eastern/Crossroads interconnect to backhaul gas from Dawn for delivery to Crossroads at Defiance. The possibility also exists to backhaul gas from NGPL and/or Midwestern from Chicago to Panhandle Eastern.

In addition to operating the pipeline, KNG operates a distribution system in Findlay and some surrounding towns. Roller said KNG was posting available capacity on energygateway to “help us gain exposure to a much broader universe of wholesale and retail market participants, who are seeking the diversification in their supply portfolios, which Crossroads and KNG offer through direct connections to the Chicago supply hub.”

Energygateway.com has mostly focused on commodity sales up to this point. The company runs a highly customizable B2B e-commerce Internet transaction platform. Over $550 million of energy has been sold over its exchange since it opened in September, 1999, the company said.

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