FERC Thursday gave SG Resources Mississippi LLC a conditional go-ahead to place into service the first of three caverns at its high-deliverability salt dome natural gas storage facility in Greene County, MS.

“This approval is subject to your filing of acceptable mechanical integrity test results for Cavern No. 1 prior to commencement of service,” said Lauren O’Donnell, acting director of FERC’s Division of Gas-Environment and Engineering.

The initial storage cavern of the Southern Pines Center will hold up to 8 Bcf of working gas, with capacity reaching 24 Bcf when all three caverns are completed (see Daily GPI, Jan. 26, 2007). The company said it currently expects to bring two caverns into service this year, with a third due to become operational in 2010. Houston-based SG Resources Mississippi, a subsidiary of SGR Holdings LLC, said it has the capability to develop a fourth and fifth cavern in the future, bringing total capacity to 40 Bcf.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also approved for operation direct interconnects between Southern Pines and Destin Pipeline Co., Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) and Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), which will serve markets in the U.S. Southeast and Northeast. FGT’s interconnection with the storage facility will accommodate receipts and deliveries of up to 1 Bcf/d, while the Transco interconnection will accommodate up to 600 MMcf/d.

In addition, the storage facility will have indirect access to Southern Natural Gas, Gulf South Pipeline, Gulfstream Natural Gas System and Tennessee Gas Pipeline by way of Destin and another new interconnect with Gulfstream by way of Transco and FTC, according to the company.

An interconnect with the Southeast Supply Header is scheduled to go into service in the second quarter of this year, SG Resources said.

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