Spectra Energy filed an application with FERC to add a fourth cavern at its Market Hub-Egan gas storage facility, which will ultimately increase working gas capacity by one-third to 32 Bcf, the company said Wednesday.

Expansion plans at the Acadia Parish, LA, facility include:

The above-ground facilities are expected to be completed in the summer of 2009 with the fourth cavern capacity scheduled to be brought on in phases beginning in 2009.

“High-deliverability storage capacity is ideally suited to meet a host of market needs including ensuring supply reliability, meeting short-term and long-term balancing requirements, managing risk and capturing opportunities in today’s volatile gas market,” said Mark Fiedorek, Spectra group vice president. “Additionally, storage capacity is vital to managing the logistical and operational risk associated with the marketing of LNG supply.”

The proposed project is the next phase of Egan’s expansion (see Daily GPI, Dec. 7, 2006). Work currently under way includes a compression increase of 80%, or 23,000 horsepower, which will increase the cycling capacity of the facility when it goes into service in the third quarter of this year. Also under development is the addition of a third 8 Bcf cavern scheduled to reach its full capacity in 3Q2008, bringing the total working capacity at the Egan facility to 24 Bcf.

Along with this proposed Egan project, Spectra Energy plans to expand its Moss Bluff, TX facility and to develop a site in Copiah County, MS, doubling the company’s salt-dome storage capacity from 35 Bcf to 70 Bcf in the next six years.

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