Bay Gas Storage, which is owned by EnergySouth Inc., put a third underground natural gas storage cavern at its McIntosh, AL, facility in service Tuesday, increasing total working gas capacity by 5.4 Bcf to 11.4 Bcf.

The Mobile, AL-based storage developer originally planned to increase its working gas capacity by 5 Bcf, which has been fully subscribed, but an additional 0.4 Bcf of capacity was achieved during the development process, the company said.

With cavern three now in service, Bay Gas Storage said it will begin leaching its fourth underground storage cavern at McIntosh. This is the first phase of a planned 10 Bcf expansion that will include a fifth cavern at the southern Alabama facility. Cavern four is expected to be in service in the first quarter of 2010 and will add 5 Bcf of working gas capacity, the company said.

A direct interconnect with Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line also is under construction to support caverns four and five and open the storage facility to serve the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast markets. Bay Gas said construction of the pipe interconnect is scheduled to be completed before cavern four’s in-service date.

The storage facility currently has direct interconnects with Florida Gas Transmission and Gulf South Pipeline. It has indirect interconnects with Destin Pipeline and Gulfstream Natural Gas System.

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