El Paso Natural Gas last week filed an application at FERC seeking the go-ahead to add nine compressor facilities in three phases to boost the capacity of its mainline delivery system in the Southwest by an additional 320 MMcf/d.

The so-called Line 2000 Power-Up Project would add 120 MMcf/d to El Paso’s westbound capacity by a projected in-service date of February 2004; 100 MMcf/d by April 2004; and 100 Mcf/d by April 2005, according to the application. El Paso said it would not be able to meet the Commission’s targeted deadline of the summer of 2003 for the project.

The proposed project would “allow [El Paso] to transport additional natural gas volumes from the eastern portion of its system, i.e. Keystone and Waha Pools, to customers located along its South System and potentially as far as to the Ehrenberg area delivery points located at the California border,” the pipeline told the Commission. El Paso asked FERC for expedited approval for phased construction of the project.

El Paso proposes to install a total of 151,600 horsepower at nine new or existing compressor stations located along its existing Line 2000 conversion project in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The pipeline currently is converting Line 2000, a former crude oil line, to a 785-mile natural gas pipeline, extending from Texas to the California border. The converted 230 MMcf/d Line 2000 is expected to be completed this fall.

FERC has directed El Paso to make the additional 550 MMcf/d capacity from both the Line 2000 conversion and the power-up project available to the pipeline’s full-requirements (FR) customers, who have been ordered by the Commission to switch to contract-demand (CD) service on May 1, 2003 (See Daily GPI, Sept. 19). By requiring all of El Paso’s shippers to contract for the same service (CD service), the agency is hoping to end a long-standing dispute over capacity-allocation practices on the pipeline.

To provide for a smooth transition to CD service for its existing FR shippers, El Paso said it “will not assess the FR shippers the reservation charges attributable directly to these [power-up] facilities until the next rate case examining its costs and revenues.” The pipeline placed the total capital cost of the project at $173.3 million.

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