It’s taken a little longer than expected, but on Friday, CrossBay Pipeline Co. LLC of Houston fulfilled a two-year plus dream byfiling an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionto increase natural gas deliveries into the New York Citymetropolitan area by 125,000 Dth/d. The proposed project now has atargeted in-service date of Dec. 1, 2002.

The Cross Bay project, first announced in January 1998, isestimated to now cost $59.5 million to construct. It will includethe transfer of ownership of nearly 37 miles of Williams’ existingTransco Lower New York Bay Extension to the LLC; an expansion ofexisting facilities with the construction of a 16,000 horsepowercompressor station in Middlesex County, NY; pipe replacement; andsystem modifications.

If approved by FERC, construction on the pipeline project couldbegin in July 2001. Once completed, the compressor station andpipeline would form a new interstate pipeline system that wouldextend from Middlesex County across the lower New York Bay, all theway to Nassau County, NY. The pipeline’s capacity would be morethan 600,000 Dth/d, with 125,000 Dth/d of incremental capacity tobe available to Cross Bay shippers.

“By expanding the capacity of these existing facilities, CrossBay Pipeline Co. will be able to create an important gastransportation alternative for New Jersey and New York markets inan economical, efficient manner with minimal impact on theenvironment,” said a project statement from the partners.

Williams and Duke Energy each have a 37.5% ownership stake in the limited liability company, while KeySpan, which came on as a third partner in August 1998, owns 25% of Cross Bay (see NGI, Aug. 10).

Since its inception more than two years ago, the Cross Bay project has changed somewhat, with the cost of the project changing most of all. When it was in its first stage of development in 1998, cost to get the pipeline up and going was estimated at $45 million, and it was scheduled to go into operation in November 2000. It also had expected to file its project application with FERC at the end of 1998 (see NGI, Oct. 19, 1998).

Carolyn Davis, Houston

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