Northwest Pipeline has asked FERC to give it an additional month to complete and place into service the North Seattle Delivery Lateral Expansion to meet the growing demand for gas in the greater Seattle, WA, area. At the same time, it approved Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America’s (NGPL) request for an additional year to complete a project in Oklahoma.

“Northwest states that the permitting process for the [lateral] project took longer than expected. Thus, the start of construction was delayed,” the pipeline told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It requested that the in-service of the lateral be delayed until Nov. 1, which the Commission approved.

The North Seattle Delivery Lateral Expansion is being built for Puget Sound Energy to meet the growing demand for gas in the greater Seattle area, according to Northwest. The project calls for the removal of an existing eight-inch diameter pipeline and replacing it with a new 20-inch diameter pipe within the existing right-of-way, and upgrading the existing North Seattle meter station.

The expansion will raise delivery capacity on the North Seattle Delivery Lateral by 84,200 Dth/d, said Northwest, a Williams pipeline.

The NGPL project calls for it to increase the maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) of the gathering systems at its Sayre Storage Field in Beckham County, OK. It was supposed to be completed this month.

“To achieve the new MAOP, Natural [was required to] take facilities at the storage field out of service, replace various flange sets, ball valves and check valves and install a high-pressure discharge header…This work was planned for the summer of 2012, but due to [the] operational need to use the physical capability at the storage field to provide firm storage service during this planned construction period, Natural [was] unable to complete the project within the one-year time limit. Therefore, Natural requests an extension of time until Oct. 14, 2013,” which the Commission granted.

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