National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. filed an application at FERC to abandon by sale the Owls Nest Storage Field in Elk County, PA. The company also is seeking permission to to sell the field’s base gas.

According to its filing at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, National Fuel said the expenditures required to maintain the facilities compared to “the minor contribution” the facilities make to its system justify abandonment. The company proposes to sell the storage facilities to an entity that would used them for gas production and gathering.

“National Fuel states that it will not replace its existing storage capabilities through additions to existing facilities, and will instead, meet its existing storage requirements through more efficient operations of its remaining storage fields,” the notice of application said. “In addition, National Fuel states that it does not propose the abandonment of service to any customer as a result of the sale, nor are any new or expanded services proposed, nor any construction or expansion of National Fuel’s facilities proposed in connection with the sale.”

According to data gathered for the next edition of NGI‘s natural gas storage database and map, Owls Nest has total capacity of 2,760 MMcf, with base gas accounting for 2,110 MMcf of that. The maximum injection and withdrawal rates at the depleted reservoir facility are 7 MMcf/d. The facility has provided service at straight fixed variable rates. Owls Nest was placed in service in 1949.

Earlier this month, Spectra Energy and New Jersey Resources said they had formed a partnership to develop and operate a gas storage facility with more than 10 Bcf of working capacity to serve markets in Pennsylvania and the northeastern United States. The reservoir would be the easternmost storage on the Texas Eastern Transmission pipeline and would potentially provide a home for regasified liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Dominion Cove Point LNG (see Daily GPI, March 7).

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