Bobcat Gas Storage is holding an open season through Nov. 7 for 9.4 Bcf of unratcheted, firm storage service at a natural gas storage facility currently under construction in St. Landry Parish, LA, the company said last Tuesday.

The open season is for 1.6 Bcf of capacity in Bobcat’s Cavern 1, which will be available in October 2008, and 7.8 Bcf of capacity in Cavern 2, which is expected to be in-service in August 2009, the company said. Customers can choose four-turn and/or seven-turn service.

Last month Bobcat, a subsidiary of Haddington Ventures III LLC, asked FERC to allow it to increase the working capacity of both caverns to 7.8 Bcf by reclassifying gas previously designated as base gas to working gas. The increase in working gas will not lengthen construction time at the facility, Bobcat said. As a result of the increase in working gas capacity, Bobcat is offering additional capacity in Cavern 1 available for contracting.

Both caverns have been leaching at Bobcat’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-approved combined leaching rate of 5,000 gpm. Bobcat has received FERC approval to increase its leaching rate to 6,000 gpm and anticipates leaching at a higher rate in the near term. Site work for a compressor station is under way, and all other aspects of construction are on or ahead of schedule, the company said. When completed the facility will offer interconnections with Texas Eastern Transmission Co., Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co., Florida Gas Transmission, Gulf South Pipeline and ANR Pipeline.

In April FERC approved several changes to Bobcat’s certificate to build a high-deliverability storage project in St. Landry Parish, including increasing the total capacity to 20 Bcf from the previously authorized 17.8 Bcf, decreasing the diameter of interconnecting pipelines and adding more interconnecting pipelines (see NGI, April 23).

Bobcat will offer customers service under its FERC-approved tariff and market-based rates. Details on the open season are available by contacting Jamie Craddock at (713) 800-3510 or by e-mail at jcraddock@bobcatstorage.com. Additional information about the project, construction updates and the open season is available on-line at www.bobcatstorage.com.

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