With the Viking Voyageur project on-hold, ANR Pipeline announcedplans to move in and grab more of the Midwest market. The pipelinesaid it intends to build another expansion designed to providetransportation from its Joliet Hub near Chicago to delivery pointsin Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois. An open season for service,which is expected to begin Nov. 1, 2000 or later, will be held fromJuly 1 through Aug. 1.

The company received preliminary approval from FERC in May foran 11-mile pipeline looping project that will provide 118 MDth/d ofnew firm transportation at discounted rates (67% of the maximumrate) for eight shippers. The features of this new offering areslightly different.

ANR plans to offer shippers firm transportation from Joliet intoViking Gas Transmission at Marshfield, WI, for a reservation rateof 14 cents/Dth/d plus fuel and commodity charges. Rates forMichigan storage access will be 14 cents/Dth/d. The offeringincludes firm, year-round FTS-1 gas transportation from Joliet todelivery points in Wisconsin for 10 cents/Dth/d and firmtransportation from Joliet with winter deliveries to Wisconsin anda portion of summer deliveries to ANR’s storage facilities inMichigan for 14 cents/Dth/d. Contract terms would be for a minimumof five years.

The project clearly is designed to fill the void left by VikingVoyageur, which was shelved earlier this year partly because ofupstream supply concerns. Voyageur would have provided 1.4 Bcf/d ofnew firm transportation capacity from Canada through Minnesota,Wisconsin and Illinois to the Joliet Hub.

“By taking advantage of this opportunity, customers will be ableto access economically priced gas from all major supply basins atthe Joliet Hub, including large volumes of Canadian natural gasthat will be delivered in late 2000 by Alliance Pipeline andNorthern Border,” said ANR President Jeffrey A. Connelly. For moreinformation call 1-800-8-ASK-ANR.

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