Two Duke Energy Gas Transmission (DEGT) pipeline affiliates have asked FERC for the green light to broaden an already-certificated project and to build a loop expansion to increase transportation service to “two high-growth areas” — the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.

DEGT’s Algonquin Gas Transmission is seeking to amend its certificate for its Hubline I project, which the Commission awarded last September, to include a lateral extension to serve Boston and surrounding areas. The proposed seven-mile extension (four miles on land, and three miles in Boston Harbor) would run from Deer Island, MA, through East Boston, Chelsea and terminate in Everett, where it would interconnect with Algonquin’s system.

The so-called Hubline Phase II extension, which would have a capacity of 110,000 Dth/d, “will provide an additional supply source to the heart of the greater Boston market and increase the reliability of natural gas infrastructure in eastern Massachusetts,” said Duke Energy in a statement. Residents in the Boston area have raised concerns about the lateral extension, which they say would run through densely populated areas (See NGI, Jan. 27).

As part of the Hubline Phase II proposal, Algonquin has asked FERC to extend the construction deadline for a 5.4-mile lateral to Deer Island so that it can be built concurrently with the proposed extension to Everett. Construction is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2004, with in-service expected in the summer of 2005, according to the Duke pipeline.

The entire Hubline project, when completed, will tie together the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline III expansion, Duke Energy’s Islander East pipeline project to Long Island and the existing Algonquin system, making Canadian gas available for the first time to markets in Boston, Connecticut and New York, according to Duke spokesman John Sheridan. Hubline I is currently under construction.

In a related development, Duke’s Texas Eastern Transmission LP pipeline has filed at FERC to build a 35-mile, 36-inch diameter pipeline loop of existing facilities in western Pennsylvania. If approved by the Commission, the expanded facilities would transport an estimated 223,000 Dth/d of gas to Dominion Transmission for delivery to markets in the Mid-Atlantic area.

The project calls for Tetco to abandon 35 miles of an existing 24-inch diameter pipeline, which has been out of operation for some time, according to Sheridan. It also includes an upgrade of facilities at Tetco’s Uniontown compressor station in Fayette County, PA. Tetco projects the so-called Dominion Expansion will be in service in November 2004.

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