In a change of strategy last week, TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.and Nicor Inc. notified FERC they were withdrawing theirapplication for their original Viking Voyageur pipeline project toclear the path for a new application on a scaled-down version theyintend to file early this fall.

The two sponsors initially had considered amending the originalViking Voyageur application still on file at the Commission, but inthe end “we decided that it just probably would not make a lot ofsense to do that because [the new planned project] will besubstantially different looking,” said Ed Werneke, vice presidentof supply ventures for Nicor. This is a “housekeeping matter on ourpart to kind of clear the FERC agenda on the Viking Voyageurproject.”

The project sponsors “have come to the conclusion that becauseof the significant change in the scope of the project we are betterserved by filing a new application. However, the work that we didon the Viking Voyageur project, especially the work throughWisconsin and Illinois, is still applicable in large part to thenew shortened version. That is still available to FERC to workwith,” he noted.

The new project, which will be called Voyageur, will be aboutone-fifth the length of the proposed Viking Voyageur pipeline, willflow northward from the Chicago hub, but still will serve the samemarkets targeted in the original proposal – northern Illinois andsouthern Wisconsin. Specifically, the Voyageur project willrepresent just the southern leg of the formerly proposed VikingVoyageur pipeline. The sponsors’ plans call for construction of a140-150 mile, 1.05 Bcf/d line that would begin at theJoliet/Chicago Hub area, where it would interconnect with NorthernBorder Pipeline and Alliance Pipeline, and would flow gas northwardthrough northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, terminating justsouthwest of Milwaukee, WI.

In contrast, the original Viking Voyageur project was proposedas a 773-mile, 1.4 Bcf/d pipeline that would have interconnectedwith TransCanada at the Manitoba-Minnesota border and brought gasdown through Minnesota, Wisconsin and into the market hub inChicago.

TransCanada and Nicor said they expect to submit a applicationfor the new Viking project, which will be based on the old VikingVoyageur concept, in either September or October. The project, ifapproved and built, would cut into the transportation markets innorthern Illinois and southern Wisconsin currently served by ANRPipeline exclusively.

Werneke doubts that filing a new application on the Voyageurproject will it put at a disadvantage with the competition – suchas the Illinois Wisconsin Express Project. “We think we still havethe head start. A substantial amount of environmental work,engineering work and right-of-way work that was done on VikingVoyageur is in place at FERC on file there. Even though we’rewithdrawing the application, it doesn’t mean that that informationis any less valuable,” he said.

Werneke further dismissed the notion that the sponsors withdrewthe application partly in response to ANR Pipeline’s request lastMonday for FERC to dismiss the Viking Voyageur filing. “There is noconnection. We had already come to the conclusion that we weregoing to withdraw our application. We were I guess surprised atwhat ANR did. They seem to take every opportunity they canto…cause us problems coming into their market area.”

Voyageur “is planning to build an entirely different projectfrom the one it has on file,” complained ANR, whose share of thetransportation market in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsinwould be threatened by a born-again Voyageur project.

As for shipper committments, “we are continuing to work on that.We feel we have substantial support, but until we’re through thisopen season we’re probably not going to talk a lot aboutcommitments,” Werneke said. The open season ends Sept. 11th.

Susan Parker

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