Saying that current natural gas market dynamics make salt cavern storage “vital” for growing demand, Duke Energy Gas Transmission (DEGT) said Friday that its Market Hub Partners (MHP) unit is conducting an open season for customers seeking the “flexibility and reliability” of salt cavern storage services.

The nonbinding open season includes MHP’s existing Egan storage facilities in Acadia Parish, LA and Moss Bluff storage facility in Liberty County, TX, and a proposed storage facility in Copiah County, MS. MHP said its facilities are strategically located between growing natural gas supply options and premium markets.

“Recent price and supply volatility have made salt cavern storage facilities vital to the growing markets in the southeast and northeast United States,” said Mark Fiedorek, vice president, asset optimization and storage development. “Our ability to combine customized storage services with attractive supply and market access provides our customers with the services they need to meet their growing natural gas marketing requirements.”

MHP said that as market demand for salt cavern storage has grown over the past five years, it has expanded and enhanced the Moss Bluff and Egan facilities by adding space, injection and withdrawal capacity. By 2009, when the currently anticipated expansion at Egan is fully completed, MHP will have increased the combined working capacity of the two facilities from 26 Bcf to 40 Bcf. The Copiah facility is a proposed new high deliverability salt cavern storage project that has already been certificated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“MHP’s storage experience, strategic locations and cost-effective expansion options provide customers with a range of solutions to manage supply reliability and balancing requirements, as well as the option to take advantage of market volatility,” Fiedorek added.

MHP said the Egan Hub advantages include:

Moss Bluff advantages include:

Copiah Storage advantages include:

The MHP open season is scheduled to run from May 1-May 31. The size and timing of any new expansion projects will depend on market interest.

For more information call Janice Devers at (713) 627-6170.

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