Due to expiring contracts, Atlanta-based AGL Resources announced Tuesday it is soliciting bids for firm and interruptible natural gas storage services that will be available in early 2006 at the company’s Pivotal Energy Development Jefferson Island Storage & Hub (JISH), a salt cavern storage facility in Louisiana.

AGL reported that JISH will have 300 million dekatherms of storage capacity available beginning Jan. 1, 2006, and another 1,100 million dekatherms available beginning April 1, 2006.

“We’re opening the bidding process now for the capacity that will be available at JISH next year as a result of contracts expiring,” said Dana Grams, senior vice president of business development at Pivotal Energy Development, the AGL Resources business unit responsible for managing the JISH assets.

Located near the Henry Hub at Erath, LA in Vermilion and Iberia Parishes, JISH is a high-deliverability storage facility capable of multiple inventory cycles per year. The facility consists of two salt dome gas storage caverns with 10,000 million dekatherms of total capacity, and about 7,250 million dekatherms of working gas capacity.

Currently, JISH has 720 million Dth/d withdrawal capacity and 240 million Dth/d injection capacity. Installation is nearing completion on a new 8,000 horsepower compressor, which will increase injection ability by 50% to 360 million Dth/d.

AGL completed the $90.3 million acquisition of Jefferson Island Storage & Hub LLC from an American Electric Power subsidiary in October of 2004 (see Daily GPI, Oct. 4, 2004).

AGL noted that the JISH header system has interconnections with eight pipelines, including direct access to the Henry Hub via Sabine Pipe Line. JISH also is connected to Crosstex (Louisiana Intrastate Gas), Texas Gas Transmission, Columbia Gulf Transmission, Sea Robin Pipeline, Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Gulf South Pipeline and NGPL.

Interested parties can contact Rob deCardenas at (832) 397-3881 (rdecarde@aglresources.com), Mary Lou Dale at (832) 397-3727 (mdale@aglresources.com) or Dana Grams at (832) 397-1726 (dgrams@aglresources.com). Information is also available at https://www.gasnom.com/ip/jeffersonisland/.

©Copyright 2005Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.