Williams was selected yesterday by a consortium of deep-waterGulf of Mexico producers to handle about 500 MMcf/d of gasproduction that is scheduled to come on stream in mid-2002. Toaccommodate the projected volumes, Williams will build the CanyonStation, a production handling platform in the East Main Pass areasouth of Mobile Bay.

“This is the third major agreement we’ve signed this year tobring new supplies of natural gas production into our Mobile Bayoperations,” said Alan Armstrong, vice president of gathering andprocessing in Williams’ midstream unit. The Williams platform willprocess gas from the proposed Canyon Express gathering system,which will bring gas from several production fields. Williams’Canyon Station platform also will be connected to three pipelineoutlets that deliver the residue gas onshore, giving the producersaccess to a variety of markets. Construction for the platform isslated to begin in summer 2001 and conclude in second-quarter 2002.

The leases being developed are in the Camden Hills, Kings Peakand Aconcagua fields in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, located in7,000 feet of water south of Alabama’s Mobile Bay, near Coden. Theproduction project is being developed and managed by the CanyonExpress producers, a consortium of Elf Exploration, Mariner Energy,Pioneer Natural Resources, BP Amoco, Marathon Oil, TotalExploration, and Baker Hughes. Elf is the operator of the CanyonExpress Pipeline subsea production system.

Upon completion, Canyon Express will set a new water depthrecord for commercial production. The current water depth record inthe Gulf of Mexico is Shell’s Mensa field in 5,300 feet of water.

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