Growing production in the Fayetteville Shale has prompted CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission Co. (CEGT) to hold a nonbinding open season for expansion of its core pipeline system in eastern Arkansas.

Responses are due by 4 p.m. CDT Aug. 26.

“Gas production from the Fayetteville Shale remains robust, and an additional expansion of CEGT’s core pipeline system would provide these incremental supplies access to the interstate pipelines serving the Midwest and Northeast,” said Cy Zebot, CEGT senior vice president. “We are well positioned to expeditiously get these supplies to the marketplace and will continue to identify transportation solutions to support this production growth.” CEGT is an interstate pipeline subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy Inc.

CEGT said it anticipates that incremental capacity would be provided with additional compression and looping of Lines J and JM-1. The specific facilities required would be a function of the location and volume level commitment of potential supply sources, the pipeline said. Final pricing will be based on facility costs, the level of firm commitments and the amount of interest indicated in accessing interstate pipelines connected to CEGT’s system. CEGT will consider proposals of any term but estimates that long-term commitments will be necessary to complete the project.

Some estimates peg gas potential in the Fayetteville Shale at 20-30 Tcf.

Southwestern Energy Co., an early player in the Fayetteville, this spring said its output from the play had more than doubled (see Daily GPI, April 29). Recently, Fayetteville Express Pipeline LLC — a venture of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Energy Transfer Partners LP — filed an application at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build an interstate pipeline from the Fayetteville. The project would be an approximately 185-mile, 42-inch diameter pipeline that would travel from Conway County, AR, eastward through White County, AR, to an interconnect with Trunkline Gas in Quitman County, MS (see Daily GPI, July 2).

For information on CEGT’s open season contact Bryan Ginsburg at (713) 207-5166 or bryan.ginsburg@centerpointenergy.com; Kathy Kennedy at (713) 207-5189 or kathy.kennedy@centerpointenergy.com; Michael Joyce at (713) 207-5114 or mike.joyce@centerpointenergy.com; or Mike Stoll at (314) 991-7405 or mike.stoll@centerpointenergy.com.

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