CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission Co. (CEGT) has entered into two separate firm transportation agreements to transport Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s Haynesville Shale natural gas, the companies announced late Monday.

CEGT, the interstate pipeline subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy Inc., owns and operates Line CP, a 1.55 Bcf/d pipeline that extends from Carthage, TX, to the Perryville Hub in Louisiana. Under the agreements with Chesapeake Energy Marketing Inc., CEGT will transport gas on both a forward-haul basis to CEGT’s Perryville Hub and on a backhaul basis to Carthage.

The 27-month backhaul agreement provides for firm transportation volumes to ramp up to 500 MMcf/d. The long-term firm forward-haul agreement provides for 230 MMcf/d of capacity, effective when CEGT’s Phase IV Line CP compression expansion goes into service, currently projected for April 2010. CEGT said its application for the Phase IV expansion has been filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

To fulfill the forward-haul requirements of the agreement, CEGT said it would add a compressor to each of Line CP’s Westdale Compressor Station in Red River Parish, LA, and Vernon Compressor Station in Jackson Parish, LA. The expansion would add 274 MMcf/d of capacity to CEGT’s Line CP, bringing the total year-round capacity to more than 1.8 Bcf/d.

The key to executing the agreement with Chesapeake was CEGT’s Line CP and Perryville Hub, which “provide access to numerous markets in the Midwest and Northeast,” said C. Gregory Harper, president of CenterPoint’s pipeline group. The Phase IV expansion “is advancing through the FERC certificate process, and we are moving forward with the procurement, contracting, permitting and other elements to place these facilities in service by April 2010.”

CEGT previously held an open season for expansion of Line CP’s capacity (see Daily GPI, June 26, 2008). It also is evaluating proposals for the remaining 44 MMcf/d capacity in the Phase IV expansion and said it plans to execute definitive service agreements before the project is placed in service in 2010.

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