Bison Pipeline LLC has asked FERC to approve its request to put the bulk of its pipeline project in service by Tuesday (Jan. 4).

Specifically, it is seeking authorization to place in operation Phase 1 of the project, which includes 302 miles of 30-inch diameter pipeline to transport natural gas from the Power River Basin to Midwest markets, such as Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. The line would run northeastward from the Dead Horse region near Gillette, WY, across the southeastern corner of Montana and into southwestern North Dakota, where it would interconnect with the pipeline system of Northern Border Pipeline Co. near its Compressor Station No. 6 in Morton County, ND.

The project also calls for the installation of one compressor station totaling 4,700 hp near Hettinger County, ND (Phase 2). The cost of the project is estimated at $609.6 million.

Bison Pipeline is a limited liability company, and its sole member is TC Continental Pipeline Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of TransCanada Corp. TransCanada Northern Border Inc., also a TransCanada subsidiary, would be the operator of Bison.

The proposed 477 MMcf/d Bison pipeline has 10-year capacity commitments with Anadarko Energy Services Co. (250 MMcf/d); Williams Gas Marketing Inc. (100 MMcf/d); Minnesota Energy Resources Corp. (51.706 MMcf/d); and MidAmerican Energy Co. (5 MMcf/d). Anadarko Energy is the project’s foundation shipper (see Daily GPI, May 16, 2008).

Even as producers continue to lay down rigs across the country due to low natural gas prices, Bison maintains that the project is designed to serve expanding production in the Powder River Basin. “Twenty thousand wells have been drilled in this area in the last 10 years, and annual additions are projected to be in the range of 2,000 wells per year,” Bison said in its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) application (see Daily GPI, May 1, 2009).

The project, with its direct connection to Northern Border, would provide a new northbound route out of the entire Rocky Mountain production region to the growing Midwest market, according to Bison.

©Copyright 2010Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.