Steckman Ridge LP, a joint venture of Spectra Energy and New Jersey Resources, has received approval from FERC to develop 12 Bcf of natural gas storage capacity in Northwest Pennsylvania to serve markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, the company said Monday.

Steckman Ridge plans to convert a natural gas field in Bedford, PA, into a multi-cycle storage facility with the addition of storage wells, a compressor station and a storage field pipeline network. The project is expected to be in service by April 2009.

The Steckman reservoir is better than most, according to the company. It can be cycled two to three times and will have withdrawal capability of 300,000 MMDth/d and injection capability of 150,000 MMDth/d. Customers would have direct access to two major interstate pipeline systems — Spectra Energy Corp.’s Texas Eastern Transmission and the Dominion Gas Transmission system — and significant gas supplies from the East Coast and Rocky Mountains, Steckman Ridge said.

“We are responding to a need that was clearly demonstrated during our open season when we received bids that far exceeded the working capacity of the facility,” said Mark Fiedorek, vice president of Steckman Ridge. The company reported it received bids totaling five times the capacity of its proposed storage facility in an open season last year (see Daily GPI, June 29, 2007).

Steckman Ridge filed its application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in late 2007 (see Daily GPI, Nov. 5, 2007).

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