Midcontinent Express Pipeline (MEP) has filed an application at FERC for a 300,000 MMcf/d expansion of its mammoth pipeline project that would provide takeaway capacity for shale producers in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

The expansion seeks to boost the main segment of MEP’s Zone 1 from the previously sold out capacity of 1.5 Bcf/d to a total of 1.8 Bcf/d by increasing compression at stations in Lamar County, TX; Cass County, TX, and Hinds County, MS. MEP, a joint venture of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Energy Transfer Partners LP, has awarded the expansion capacity to two shippers, Chesapeake Energy Marketing Inc. and National Fuel Marketing Co.

The main segment originates near planned interconnect locations with Energy Transfer’s Houston Pipe Line system and Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL) in the Paris, TX, area and terminates near a planned interconnect location with Columbia Gulf Transmission near Waverly, LA.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last July approved the nearly $1.27 billion MEP project, which calls for the construction of 507 miles of 30-, 36- and 42-inch diameter interstate pipeline from Bryan County, OK, to a terminus in Choctaw County, AL; a 4.2-mile, 16- and 24-inch diameter lateral in Richland and Madison Parishes, LA; approximately 111,420 hp of compression; and associated facilities (see Daily GPI, July 29, 2008).

A portion of the expansion, extending from Oklahoma through Delhi, LA, is targeted for start-up on April 1, while the remainder of the project through Alabama is scheduled for service on July 14, the pipeline said.

MEP also plans to lease up to 272,000 Dth/d of capacity on the Oklahoma intrastate system of Enogex Inc. The Commission approved a limited jurisdiction certificate authorizing Enogex to lease its capacity to MEP.

MEP would have up to 13 receipt/delivery interconnections providing access to downstream markets, including those served by NGPL, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line, Texas Eastern Transmission, Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Columbia Gulf, Texas Gas Transmission, Southern Natural Gas, Destin Pipeline and ANR Pipeline.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and Energy Transfer Partners each own a 45% interest in MEP. MarkWest Pioneer LLC, a subsidiary of MarkWest Energy Partners LP, last year entered into an option agreement to acquire 10% of the equity of MEP after construction is completed and it is placed into service (see Daily GPI, Jan. 29, 2008).

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