Dominion is offering customers increased access to new gas supplies expected from the Rocky Mountain region through a project the company announced Friday. It is yet another effort by the industry to move gas eastward from the massive Rockies Express Pipeline (REX).

Under the Dominion Hub III Project, existing firm transportation customers of Dominion Transmission will have the opportunity to move their firm receipt rights to a planned interconnection with the REX at Clarington, OH. Customers would retain their existing delivery points to move these supplies to growing Northeast markets.

The Hub III Project is a response to a growing interest in Rockies supplies by customers on the Dominion system.

“The Dominion advantage is that the Rockies pipeline will interconnect directly with the Dominion Transmission system,” said Donald R. Raikes, vice president-marketing and customer services. “Therefore, instead of requiring significant greenfield build, the Hub III Project will maximize the efficient use of existing pipeline infrastructure and have less impact on the environment. The Hub III Project can be in place quickly, with minimal construction, and will bolster the value of Dominion’s firm transportation services.”

In June, Dominion said it was the first pipeline to sign firm precedent agreements to move Rockies supplies into East Coast markets as part of its Dominion Hub I Project.

The current Hub III Project design would allow approximately 300,000 Dth/d of existing firm receipt point entitlements to be transferred to the Clarington Interconnect. Interested shippers with contracted primary receipt point rights south of Valley Gate will have the opportunity to reassign these receipt point rights to the planned Clarington Interconnect. Dominion Hub III participants will continue to have secondary access to all other points on Dominion’s postage stamp system, including access to Dominion South Point.

Dominion anticipates charging an incremental reservation surcharge for this receipt point realignment based on the expected cost of the required facilities. The target surcharge is currently a unit rate of 6 cents/Dth. Rates for this service will be based on the level of market participation and the final design of the project’s facilities.

“The Hub III Project is a win-win proposal for both Dominion customers and Rockies producers,” Raikes said. “For current customers, the project will provide access to an important source of incremental gas supplies from the growing Rockies basin. For the Rockies producers, the Dominion Hub III Project will provide access to major liquid Northeast markets as well as to the nation’s largest gas storage network.”

National Fuel Gas Co. said earlier this month it is considering building a 324-mile pipeline to deliver Rockies gas from Ohio (see Daily GPI, Nov. 13). Other pipelines, including REX, have had the same idea — to take Rockies gas beyond Clarington. In late October, REX launched an open season to solicit market interest for its Northeast Express Project, a 375-mile extension that would carry gas from the original REX endpoint in Clarington to Princeton, NJ (see Daily GPI, Oct. 30).

In September, Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission completed an open season for its proposed Northern Bridge, which would carry Clarington-bound gas supplies to the Philadelphia-Camden, PA, metropolitan area (see Daily GPI, Sept. 5). And in August, Dominion said it had secured firm, long-term commitments to receive gas from REX and deliver it to major markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic through its Dominion Hub I project (see Daily GPI, Aug. 17). According to Pace Global Energy Services, several other pipelines are shopping projects (see Daily GPI, Oct. 23).

For additional information on the Dominion Hub III Project, contact Jeff Keister at (804) 819-2820.

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