Energy Transfer Partners LP intends to build the Texas Independence Pipeline, a $485 million, 42-inch diameter intrastate gas pipeline to serve the booming Bossier and Barnett Shale resource plays of East Texas and north central Texas, the company said last week.

The 160-mile line will expand Energy Transfer’s Texas intrastate system by a 1.1 Bcf/d and connect its existing Central and North Texas infrastructure to its East Texas network. The project could be expanded to transport more than 1.75 Bcf/d with additional compression. Construction is to begin in the fourth quarter with completion expected in the third quarter of 2009.

Energy Transfer is constructing a number of other expansions designed to serve Texas producers, including the 42-inch diameter Southeast Bossier Pipeline, which is expected to be in service by May 1 (see NGI, Oct. 15, 2007).

“With the completion of our expansion pipeline projects, including this new Texas Independence Pipeline, our capacity to transport Bossier and Barnett Shale volumes will approach 7 Bcf/d,” said Mackie McCrea, Energy Transfer president of midstream operations. “Our system offers producers in Texas unequaled access to major markets and pipeline interconnects.”

Last month Devon Energy Corp. said it is close to producing about 1 Bcfe/d of natural gas from the Barnett, and the producer’s leasehold in the play has the potential to double its output by the end of the decade — two years from now (see NGI, March 31a). Also last month, Chesapeake Energy Corp. announced a new unconventional natural gas discovery in the Haynesville Shale near Shreveport, LA, which is not far from the Texas border in northwest Louisiana (see NGI, March 31b).

Last December Bentek Energy LLC said gas originating in Texas and flowing to other states via interstate pipelines increased to a record high of 10 Bcf/d, mostly because of the surging output from the Barnett and East Texas producing basins. Texas gas exports jumped 26% compared with the same period a year ago. Bentek said the gas has been moving eastward on CenterPoint Energy’s new Carthage-to-Perryville pipeline (CP Line). CenterPoint flows were averaging 1.4 Bcf/d in December (see NGI, Dec. 17, 2007).

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