FERC Tuesday issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) of East Cheyenne Gas Storage LLC’s proposal to redevelop two nearly depleted oil reservoirs in northeastern Colorado to natural gas storage to meet the the peak day and load growth needs in markets throughout the Midwest and West.

“Approval of the proposed project, with appropriate mitigating measures, would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” said the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of the East Cheyenne Gas Storage Project [CP10-34].

East Cheyenne proposes to redevelop the West Peetz and Lewis Creek oil fields in Logan County, CO, for gas storage purposes and plans to increase storage capacity in both fields through the extraction of the remaining oil reserves by enhanced oil recovery methods. The storage facility would have the capacity to store a total working gas capacity of 18.9 Bcf — 11.5 Bcf in the West Peetz Field and 7.4 Bcf in the Lewis Creek Field, the company said.

East Cheyenne said the project would provide natural gas storage and delivery to shippers on the Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) and Trailblazer Pipeline systems that is not currently available via either pipeline.

It believes the proposed storage facility would permit the more efficient use of pipeline capacity that links prolific sources of gas production developed in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado to major consuming markets farther east.

The project calls for 10 injection/withdrawal (I/W) wells to be drilled from six new well pads; the installation of a process facility with compression facilities for I/W of natural gas; the construction of two header pipelines (16 and 24 inches in diameter) within a single corridor interconnecting with the REX and Trailblazer pipelines; bidirectional metering facilities at the I/W facilities; and two bidirectional meter stations at the REX and Trailblazer system interconnects.

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