In its annual performance report on Friday, FERC said it exceeded its goal to complete 85% of the natural gas pipeline certificate cases that came before it in fiscal 2003 year within the time frames specified. It certified 17 major pipeline projects, adding 1,211 miles of new lines to the nationwide pipeline grid and 4.3 Bcf/d of capacity.

In its “Annual Performance Report for Fiscal Year 2003,” the agency also said it approved 11 storage projects with 3.5 Bcf of peak-day deliverability; and acted on five liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, representing 16.5 Bcf of new storage capacity and 3.73 Bcf/d of deliverability.

Some of the more notable pipeline projects certified last year were: El Paso Natural Gas Corp.’s Power-Up expansion of 320 MMcf/d of natural gas capacity to its existing system; Williston Basin Corp.’s Grasslands Pipeline, which “helped to bring 80 MMcf/d of shut-in Rocky Mountain gas from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to midwestern markets;” and Duke Energy’s Greenbrier Pipeline brought 584 MMcf/d of new gas supplies to the Mid-Atlantic states, FERC reported.

On the LNG front, the Commission said it issued preliminary determinations for two greenfield Bahamas-to-Florida projects in 2003 — Tractebel’s Calypso Pipeline and AES Ocean Express. In addition, it approved three other LNG expansions for CMS Trunkline, Southern LNG and Cameron, adding a total of about 2,060 MMcf/d of deliverability to eastern markets. A third existing LNG import terminal, Dominion Cove Point LNG, was authorized to resume LNG import service last summer after being mothballed for 25 years, the agency noted.

FERC indicated that it intends to maintain its swift pace with gas pipeline certificates in the current fiscal year.

“A robust natural gas pipeline infrastructure is critical for the reliability of the nation’s energy supply and for competitive market development. To meet growing demand for natural gas, the Commission must respond quickly to the need to expand and construct pipelines and related facilities,” the Commission said.

In addition, “the Commission’s rate policies, consistently applied to transportation infrastructure projects, must give investors confidence that they will have an opportunity to recover their investments, and provide rate certainty to customers as well.”

It further signaled that terminal and regasification facilities aimed at expanding the role of LNG in the U.S. market will continue to be a high priority of FERC in fiscal 2004 and in ensuing years.

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