It appears that CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission (CEGT) and Duke Energy Gas Transmission (DEGT) are close to signing an anchor shipper for a new pipeline that will connect CEGT’s Perryville Hub in northeastern Louisiana to the Gulfstream Natural Gas System, one of DEGT’s partially owned affiliate pipelines, the CEO of CenterPoint Energy told investors during a conference call last week.

CEGT and DEGT last November signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop the new pipeline in order to take advantage of growing natural gas production from the Barnett Shale and Bossier Sands projects (see NGI, Nov. 21, 2005).

After a “significant response” from potential shippers during an open season on the proposed Southeast Supply Header pipeline, CEGT and DEGT in February said that they planned to move ahead with the project (see NGI, Feb. 6).

As a result of the successful open season, the Houston-based companies are projecting capacity of the new pipeline will be 1 Bcf/d with an in-service date in mid-2008.

“We continue to work with a number of potential shippers and believe we are close to signing an anchor shipper for the pipeline,” said CenterPoint CEO David McClanahan on Thursday during a conference call with analysts on second quarter financial results. “We remain very optimistic about the ultimate prospects for this project.”

During the Q&A portion of the call, McClanahan was asked to flesh out the potential timing of an anchor shipper contract for the Southeast Supply Header pipeline. “We hope to have that certainly solidified sometime this summer,” he said.

Meanwhile, in June, DEGT and CEGT signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a massive natural gas pipeline system that would stretch from the supply basins in West Texas to the metropolitan Pittsburgh, PA, area, providing western producers greater access to midwestern and eastern markets (see Daily GPI, June 2).

The two gas pipeline subsidiaries of Houston-based Duke Energy and CenterPoint Energy are proposing to build a 1,600-mile, 42- and 36-inch pipeline that would transport up to 1.75 Bcf/d of onshore gas supplies from the Waha market center in West Texas to the Oakford/Delmont area in southwestern Pennsylvania. The project will serve customers along the way in Indiana, Ohio, western Pennsylvania and, through multiple paths, markets in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and New England, offering gas supply from producing basins in the Mid-Continent, Rockies and West Texas.

The Mid-Continent Crossing (MCX) project initially was expected to extend from Dumas, TX, to Barton, AL. But an open season, which ended in mid-May, revealed there was significant interest in a more direct delivery system to transport Southwest and Mid-Continent region gas supplies to market centers in the Northeast, according to DEGT and CEGT.

“This project is in the early stages of development, with an extended open season that ended earlier this week,” McClanahan said during the conference call.

“As you would expect, just because the open season ends doesn’t mean your conversations” with potential shippers ends, McClanahan said in response to an analyst’s question. “We’re still talking with a number of parties and we are just trying to assess just what should the scope of this project be, and you do that based on really what shippers are willing to sign up for and the lengths of the contracts they’re willing to execute.”

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