FERC Friday issued a certificate to Wyoming Interstate Co. Ltd. (WIC) to expand its system to transport natural gas supplies in a new westbound direction from the pipeline’s existing Wamsutter Compressor Station in Wyoming to interconnections with Questar Overthrust Pipeline Co. and Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX).

The 2010 System Enhancement Project would create delivery capabilities at the new Overthrust and REX delivery points of about 285,000 Dth/d, and would also facilitate deliveries to the Opal Hub via capacity held by WIC on the Overthrust pipeline system, according to the order issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [CP10-13]. The new westbound flow would complement the historic eastbound direction of flow on the WIC mainline.

WIC, a pipeline subsidiary of El Paso Corp., said it wants to place the facilities in service by Oct. 31. The capital cost of the project has been pegged at $22.4 million.

The project calls for WIC to modify one of two Taurus 70 compressor units installed at Wamsutter in Sweetwater County, WY, to improve its delivery capabilities; modify piping and measurement facilities at WIC’s Cheyenne Compressor Station in Weld County, CO, to allow for bi-directional flow on WIC’s mainline between Cheyenne and Wamsutter; construct a small lateral pipeline from the modified Wamsutter station to a new interconnect and meter station with Overthrust and a new interconnection at an existing meter station between WIC and REX, all in Sweetwater County; and to make minor pipe modifications at Cheyenne.

WIC said 97,500 Dth/d of transportation capacity has been subscribed under firm contracts by two shippers, each for a 10-year term (Pioneer Natural Resources USA Inc. and WIC affiliate Colorado Interstate Gas Co.). It noted that the remaining 187,500 Dth/d of east-to-west delivery capacity will be available at Wamsutter for WIC’s existing and new shippers on a primary firm or alternate basis.

And because the revenues are projected to exceed projected costs by approximately $5.8 million over the first 10 years following completion of the project, WIC’s “request for a predetermination that [it] may roll the costs of the project into the existing firm transportation rates is granted, absent any significant change in circumstances,” the order said.

However it noted that “when WIC seeks rolled-in rate treatment in its next Section 4 rate case it must demonstrate that there has been no subsidization of the project by its existing customers.”

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