Columbia Gas Transmission sold its Project Penny gatheringpipeline and compressor facilities in Pennsylvania and New York toNorse Pipeline for $21.5 million. Norse is an affiliate of SchansonEnergy LLC, the energy investment arm of Schanson CapitalManagement of Los Angeles, and Nornew Inc., an integrated oil andgas exploration company focused mainly on the Appalachian Basin andthe Maritime provinces in Atlantic Canada. Norse Pipeline’sdomestic operations are based in Houston and Jamestown, NY.

Project Penny consists of seven compressor station locationsand about 341 miles of gas pipeline in northwestern Pennsylvaniaand southwestern New York. Constructed in the late 1970s and early1980s, the Project Penny facilities have no direct connection toColumbia Transmission’s other pipeline facilities and are notnecessary for the company to provide its core services ofinterstate gas transportation and storage.

The purchase of Project Penny makes Norse Pipeline the largestgas gatherer in the northern Appalachian Basin, with access toabout 6,500 gas wells in New York and Pennsylvania and the capacityto gather more than 100,000 Mcf/d.

“This acquisition will provide local gas greater access to localmarkets and should provide Appalachian Basin producers theopportunity to compete very effectively with natural gas beingproduced in the Gulf Coast and Southwest,” said Oivind Risberg,Norse Pipeline president.

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