Falcon Gas Storage Co. Inc. will hold an open season in April for a new high-deliverability, multi-cycle (HDMC) natural gas storage hub to be located in the southeastern United States. The MoBay Storage Hub in Mobile County, AL, scheduled to be in service by the fourth quarter of 2004, would offer 20 Bcf of working gas capacity along with 450 MMcf/d of injection and withdrawal capability.

Falcon, based in Houston, plans to expand the project in phases up to a total of 60 Bcf of working gas capacity with up to 1 Bcf/d of injection and withdrawal capability to accommodate increased market demand for storage in the Florida and southeastern markets.

The MoBay Storage Hub plans direct connections to several pipelines serving Florida and southeastern markets, including the Transco Mobile Bay Lateral, Gulf South Mobile Bay Lateral, Gulfstream Natural Gas System at Gulfstream’s Station 100, and Florida Gas Transmission Mobile Bay Lateral.

“All of these pipelines are within a mile and a half of Falcon’s MoBay Storage Hub project, which consists of a series of marginally producing and depleted multi-reservoir gas fields with extraordinary HDMC gas storage capabilities,” said Mark Fullerton, Falcon’s project manager for the MoBay Storage Hub. “These high-performance, dry gas reservoirs, which Falcon acquired late last year, are ideal for timely, low-cost storage development and expansion because their ‘on-the-shelf’ capacity doesn’t require the long lead-time leaching and cavern creation that is required for salt cavern storage development.”

Fullerton said there were no other gas storage hubs serving the densely populated Southeast production and market areas located near the planned MoBay Storage Hub. He said the new hub would give customers “tremendous flexibility and add a needed source of swing supply into the Florida and Southeast markets as well as a backstop for weather-related gas supply outages.”

Falcon will hold an open season from April 10 through April 24. More information on the project and the upcoming open season is available at www.falcongasstorage.com or from Fullerton at (713) 961-3204. He may also be emailed at mfullerton@falcongasstorage.com.

Falcon announced in mid-March that it was developing the Wyckoff Gas Storage Project in Steuben County, NY. Capacity bids for that project will be taken through April 14. For more information, contact Edmund Knolle at Falcon, or email him at eknolle@falcongasstorage.com.

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