The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Friday gave the green light for Questar Corp.’s Overthrust Pipeline to place into service its entire “Wamsutter Expansion Project” in Wyoming.

The expansion includes 77.2 miles of 36-inch diameter pipeline in Sweetwater County and two new compressor stations in Wyoming. Overthrust has entered into an agreement with the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) to supply firm transportation capacity of 625,000 Dth/d from the Opal Hub to the Wamsutter Hub in Sweetwater County. Rockies Express would then transport these volumes through its western leg, known as REX-West, for delivery to Midwest markets. Portions of REX-West may start up as early as this month, although the easternmost end is not expected to be in service until February.

In another development, FERC gave Wyoming Interstate Co. Ltd. (WIC) the go-ahead to place into service about half of the Kanda Lateral to meet the growing demand for take-away capacity in the Uintah Basin in Utah.

The letter order, which was issued Friday, allows WIC to put in service the first 51.5 miles of the 123-mile, 24-inch diameter lateral, which starts at a new interconnect with Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. in Uintah, UT [CP07-14]. A second part of the project, the expansion of WIC’s mainline facilities, calls for the installation of two compressor units totaling about 20,620 hp inside affiliate Colorado Interstate Gas Co.’s Wamsutter Compressor Station at Sweetwater, WY.

WIC, a pipeline subsidiary of El Paso Corp., proposed the “Kanda Lateral and Mainline Expansion Project” to address the demand for additional pipe capacity to transport gas from production areas in the Uintah Basin to other markets and the demand for additional mainline capacity sought by major Uintah Basin producer Kerr-McGee.

The proposed facilities would increase the pipeline’s capacity out of the Uintah Basin area by approximately 406,000 Dth/d and its mainline capacity by up to 150,000 Dth/d, according to WIC. The El Paso pipeline expects all of the facilities to be placed into service by January.

Kerr-McGee has signed precedent agreements for 400,000 Dth/d of capacity on the Kanda Lateral for 15 years, and for 137,000 Dth/d of mainline expansion capacity from Kanda to Wamsutter for the first two years of the agreement, increasing to 150,000 Dth/d on the second anniversary of the in-service date of the mainline expansion facilities. At Wamsutter, Kerr-McGee would have access to a number a pipelines that serve the Midwest and eastern markets.

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