FERC Friday approved Egan Hub Storage LLC’s request to begin service on an expansion of the pipeline header system at its storage facility in Acadia Parish, LA. This comes a week after the agency cleared for service a fourth storage cavern with an interim capacity of approximately 5.5 Bcf (see Daily GPI, July 27).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorized the start-up of service on eight miles of the header system expansion, which will handle the additional capacity associated with the fourth storage cavern.

Spectra Energy’s Egan Hub originally had planned to place the fourth cavern into service in August at an initial capacity of approximately 6 Bcf, along with a 16.5-mile header pipeline and other associated facilities. But in response to changes in market conditions, Egan Hub built only eight of the 16.5 miles of header pipeline and other associated facilities this year and plans to continue leaching the fourth cavern. Egan Hub said it intends to construct the remaining 8.5 miles of the header pipeline in 2010.

In October 2007 FERC issued a certificate to Egan Hub to construct the fourth cavern with a total capacity of 10.5 Bcf, nearly twice the capacity that was placed into service recently (see Daily GPI, Oct. 19, 2007). The company did not indicate when it plans to add the remaining 5 Bcf of capacity.

The project approved by FERC called for working capacity of 8 Bcf in the fourth cavern; an expansion of the capacity of Egan Hub’s Line 73 header system via the construction of the 16.5-mile. 24-inch diameter loop; a new meter and regulating (M&R) station to increase interconnect capacity with Texas Gas Transmission; an upgrade to the existing Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) M&R station; and associated interconnecting piping and other facilities.

The expanded header line, which begins at the Egan Hub and will terminate at the Texas Gas M&R station, will allow Egan to receive and deliver gas to liquefied natural gas takeaway pipelines in the region and to meet the increased demand for capacity at the Tetco and Texas Gas M&R stations, said Egan Hub.

When fully completed, the Egan Hub storage site is expected to have an overall capacity of 42 Bcf, and its maximum daily withdrawal rate would increase to 2,700 MMcf/d from 2,500 MMcf/d.

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