ANR Pipeline locked in a stable source of income for the next eight years by renegotiating firm transportation and storage agreements with its largest customer, Wisconsin utility We Energies, covering 866,500 Dth/d of service starting in 2003 and extending under various terms to 2010. Many of the contracts were due to expire in 2003.

Key to the portfolio is ANR’s ability to provide service both directly into We Energies’ distribution system as well as through competitor Guardian Pipeline via a new interconnection near Joliet, IL, a major pipeline hub. ANR finally conceded defeat in its lengthy battle with the Guardian system when FERC gave Guardian the green light earlier this year to build the Wisconsin portion of its system (see Daily GPI, Aug. 1, Dec. 2, 1999). We Energies is a part owner in Guardian and holds most of its 750 MMcf/d capacity.

“Months of cooperative effort between our companies has culminated in the signing of these agreements, allowing ANR Pipeline to continue its important relationship with We Energies, our largest customer,” said ANR President James J. Cleary. “ANR will provide a broad portfolio of competitively priced services designed to meet We Energies’ specific needs, featuring long-term rate stability and flexibility.”

We Energies President Richard Grigg said, “These agreements will translate into significant cost savings for our customers.” The agreements have been approved by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The arrangement will allow We Energies to ship its gas through Guardian Pipeline to various interconnections on its Wisconsin Gas system. It also will “free up” a substantial portion of additional transportation capacity on ANR to the benefit of Wisconsin energy users. The newly available capacity will be used, for example, by ANR’s WestLeg Project to serve local utility needs and electric power growth markets in Wisconsin (see Daily GPI, May 1, 2001).

ANR currently is holding an open season for turnback capacity as part of its WestLeg project, which is designed to increase capacity along the Madison Lateral Mainline from the Woodstock Compressor Station, with higher deliverability reaching as far as the Weyauwega Compressor Station starting in November 2004. ANR also is expanding the Beloit Lateral just south of the Janesville Compressor Station. The pipeline is soliciting the turnback of transportation service that would serve the same area of Wisconsin as the WestLeg Expansion.

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