FERC Wednesday issued a certificate to Gulf South Pipeline Co. LP for a compression expansion of its East Texas-to-Mississippi facilities that would boost takeaway capacity from the Haynesville Shale area.

Gulf South, a subsidiary of Boardwalk Pipelines LLC, proposes to add three compressor units at two existing compressor stations to increase capacity of the East Texas-to-Mississippi facilities by approximately 556,000 Dth/d operating at 80% of its specified minimum yield strength. It plans to install a 14,355 hp compressor unit and a 17,558 hp compressor unit at its Hall Summit Compressor Station in northwestern Louisiana, and a 17,558 hp compressor unit at its Tallulah Compressor Station in northeast Louisiana.

The additional compression would boost the capacity of the East Texas-to-Mississippi facilities from receipt points to be constructed between the Texas-Louisiana border and the Hall Summit Compressor Station hear Keatchie in northwestern Louisiana to delivery points at the Perryville Hub in northwest Louisiana, which is just west of the Tallulah Compressor Station, according to the FERC order [CP09-420].

The compression expansion is intended to increase access to the Haynesville Shale in northwestern Louisiana. “Gulf South contends that Haynesville Shale production will soon exceed the capacity of existing pipelines in the area. Gulf South asserts that the binding precedent agreements [that it has negotiated] demonstrate the need for additional pipeline infrastructure to transport Haynesville Shale supplies,” the order said.

Gulf South said it has entered into a precedent agreement with Petrohawk Energy Corp. to transport up to 100,000 Dth/d for 15 years; Questar Exploration and Production Co. to transport up to 100,000 Dth/d for 10 years under one agreement and 50,000 Dth/d for 10 years under a second agreement; and EnCana Marketing (USA) Inc. to transport up to 150,000 Dth/d for 10 years.

The 242-mile, 42-inch diameter East Texas-to-Mississippi facilities, which entered service in early 2008, carry 1.4-1.7 Bcf/d of gas from Carthage, TX, through Perryville, LA, to various interstate pipelines and to Gulf South’s mainline at its terminus near Harrisville, MS, where it is picked up by Gulf South’s Southeast Expansion and delivered to Transcontinental Gas Pipeline at Station 85, Gulf South said (see Daily GPI, Jan. 17, 2008). The facilities have given producers in the prolific Barnett Shale and Bossier Sands trends of East Texas an outlet for their gas in Midwest, Southeast and Northeast markets.

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