The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Wednesday issued a certificate to ANR Pipeline to carry out a compression expansion on its system to increase deliveries to customers in Wisconsin.

The so-called NorthLeg project would allow the El Paso-owned pipeline to reduce the need to rely on Canadian gas volumes received from Viking Gas Transmission Co. at an interconnection at Marshfield, WI, ANR said. ANR, Viking and Viking’s customers entered into an agreement in 2001 under which ANR could call on Viking customers to deliver gas at Marshfield for ANR customers in Wisconsin. The arrangement is due to expire in 2006.

The project includes the addition of a new compressor unit at ANR’s existing Weyauwega Compressor Station in Waupaca County, WI. By doing so, ANR estimates it would cut its dependence on Viking gas at Marshfield by 107,217 Dth/d.

ANR pegged the cost of the compression expansion at $13.5 million. FERC gave the green light for ANR to roll in the cost of the NorthLeg project into its system-wide rates at its next Section 4 rate proceeding. The targeted in-service date for the project is Nov. 1, 2005.

“We view ANR’s proposal as consistent with the settlement agreement’s expectation that during the 2001-to-2006 transition ANR will build ‘new capacity in lieu of having flowing volumes at Marshfield.’ Further, we find that the new capacity [created by] the NorthLeg project proposal will increase reliability and flexibility on ANR’s system,” the FERC order said [CP04-1].

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