FERC Friday issued a favorable draft environmental review of Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline LLC’s pipeline that would provide service from Cheniere LNG’s Sabine Pass terminal now under construction in Cameron Parish, LA.

“The project, with the appropriate mitigation measures as recommended, would be an environmentally acceptable action,” FERC staff concluded in a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on the project [CP06-449].

The proposed $490 million pipeline would extend about 136 miles from the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, connecting with various intrastate and interstate pipelines along the way, including affiliate Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL). The line would deliver at least 3,395 MDth/d of regasified gas from the LNG terminal into the national pipeline and underground storage grid, according to the FERC DEIS.

Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline, a unit of Houston-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, said it expects to receive approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in June. It noted construction is anticipated to begin in July 2008, with in-service slated for the first quarter of 2009.

The proposed pipeline would consist of two segments: a 132-mile, 42-inch diameter pipeline with a maximum firm capacity of 2.13 MMDth/d connecting to a number of pipes within Louisiana; and a one-mile, 36-inch diameter line with maximum firm capacity of 1.26 MMDth/d that would interconnect with NGPL in the vicinity of the terminal. The project also calls for the construction of a 2.3-mile, 24-inch diameter lateral connecting with Florida Gas Transmission’s system in Acadia Parish, LA.

Kinder Morgan said it already has obtained prearranged conditional agreements with several shippers for the combined 3.4 MMDth/d of initial capacity.

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