Distrigas of Massachusetts LLC (DOMAC), a major supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG), on Tuesday informed FERC that it was withdrawing its application to build a send-out line in the wake of Algonquin Gas Transmission’s decision to scrap its plans for a Boston-area lateral extension.

Citing ballooning project costs, Duke Energy subsidiary Algonquin earlier this week withdrew its FERC application to build the so-called Hubline Phase II-Everett Extension Project that would have supplied natural gas to Boston and surrounding communities (see Daily GPI, Aug. 27).

DOMAC had sought to build a direct tie-in with Algonquin’s proposed Everett extension, a seven-mile lateral (four miles on land and three miles in Boston Harbor) that would have run from Deer Island, MA, through three communities and terminated in Everett [CP03-305].

Although small in scope, DOMAC said in its May application that the connection would have represented a “new avenue for the delivery of regasified LNG to the New England gas market,” and removed some of the physical takeaway constraints on the Algonquin facilities that serve it.

DOMAC had entered into a precedent agreement with Algonquin in May 2002 for 50,000 MMBtu/d of firm transportation services over a 20-year period through the proposed Everett lateral extension. However, Algonquin notified DOMAC earlier this month that it was terminating the project.

Algonquin filed a proposal at FERC in early February to add the planned Everett extension to its Hubline expansion project, which the Commission certificated in December 2001. FERC approved the Hubline expansion as a companion to the larger Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline Phase III expansion. The integrated expansions are expected to give the Boston area access to Atlantic Canadian gas supplies.

In addition to the send-out line, DOMAC proposed to modify the LNG plant’s control system and reconfigure its existing vaporization equipment to allow higher pressure deliveries into the Hubline facilities through the DOMAC connection. The project cost was estimated at $2.4 million.

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