Another piece of the giant puzzle known as the Rockies Express Pipeline LLC Project is falling into place. Questar Corp.’s Overthrust Pipeline has filed an application at FERC seeking authorization to build a nearly 80-mile extension that would be the westernmost end of the Rockies Express project, a 1,663-mile, 42-inch diameter pipeline that would transport Rocky Mountain gas supplies to markets in the Midwest and East.

Overthrust proposes to build a 77.2-mile, 36-inch pipeline extending from the eastern end of its system at the Kanda-Nightingale-Coleman Compressor Complex near Rock Springs, WY, to a proposed interconnect with the Rockies Express project near the Wamsuttter Hub in south-central Wyoming; connecting pipeline; 45,000 of new compression in Wyoming; and three new receipt points and one new delivery point [CP06-423].

The Overthrust Pipeline will be the westernmost segment of Rockies Express, providing transportation for gas supplies from the Opal Hub in western Wyoming and other Rocky Mountain production basins to the mammoth Rockies Express at the Wamsutter Hub for delivery to markets in the Midwest and East Coast.

The so-called Wamsutter Expansion would enable Overthrust to transport an incremental 750,000 Dth/d of natural gas from the proposed new receipt points located in Uinta, Lincoln and Sweetwater counties in Wyoming to an existing interconnect with Wyoming Interstate Co. Ltd. (WIC), and 625,000 Dth/d to the proposed delivery point with Rockies Express near Wamsutter.

Overthrust said it has negotiated a long-term capacity agreement with Rockies Express, initially for 625,000 Dth/d of incremental transportation capacity, and a firm precedent agreement with WIC for 125,000 Dth/d to support construction of the Wamsutter Expansion. Under the capacity agreement, Rockies Express can request that Overthrust expand its system up to 1.5 Bcf/d.

Overthrust estimated that the total cost of the expansion will be $202.3 million, and requested that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission act on its application by March 31, 2007. The Overthrust project is expected to be in service by January 2008.

The $4 billion Rockies Express line, which would end at Clarington, OH, is being built in three sections. The entire pipeline is targeted for in-service by 2009, according to a Sempra Energy spokeswoman. Project sponsors are Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Sempra Energy and ConocoPhillips.

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