The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted Egan Hub Storage a two-year extension to complete and place into operation two coordinated expansions at its natural gas storage facility in Acadia Parish, LA.

In a request filed earlier this month to push back the project’s deadline, “Egan Hub [stated] that the extension is necessary because market conditions dictate the timing of its facility expansions, and that there is a high level of interest in utilizing Egan Hub’s salt dome storage in conjunction with certain long lead time [liquefied natural gas] projects, thus requiring additional time for Egan Hub to construct its facilities in response to the market,” said Michael J. McGehee of the Commission’s Office of Energy Projects.

The extension applies to two FERC-approved projects. In a June 2001 order, which was amended a year later, FERC issued Egan Hub a certificate to raise the maximum aggregate operating capacity of its storage field to 21 Bcf, with a third cavern being limited to a capacity of 4.6 Bcf. In an April 2003 order, the Commission granted Egan Hub certificate authority to boost the capacity of the third cavern to 10.5 Bcf, raising the maximum aggregate operating capacity of its storage field to 31.5 Bcf.

The extension gives Egan Hub until June 14, 2006 to complete and put in service both expansions. The initial expansion, which was approved in the June 2001 order, was to have been placed into operation last week.

Duke Energy subsidiary Market Hub Partners (MHP) owns Egan Hub. MHP also owns and operates the Moss Bluff, TX, salt dome which has 16 Bcf of working gas capacity, and the company has received approval to develop another salt dome storage facility in Copiah County, MS.

©Copyright 2004 Intelligence Press Inc. Allrights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republishedor redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without priorwritten consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.