Citing its failure to comply with certain environmental requirements, FERC staff has denied Petal Gas Storage LLC’s request to proceed with the construction of a 59-mile, 36-inch pipeline and associated facilities that would connect its expanding storage facilities in Hattiesburg, MS, with three interstate gas pipelines.

“My staff’s review of [Petal Gas Storage’s] implementation plan indicated that it did not properly address full compliance with environmental conditions,” wrote Lonnie Lister, chief of FERC’s Gas Hydro Branch, in a Dec. 28 letter to Houston-based Petal, a wholly owned subsidiary of El Paso Energy Partners L.P. The storage company was directed to revise its implementation plan to “address these concerns” before it can begin to build.

The $94.3 million project, which FERC approved in late October, would extend from Petal’s facilities in Hattiesburg to a Southern Natural Gas Co. compressor station near Enterprise, MS. Petal proposed the line to meet the gas requirements of Southern Company, which has contracted for 7 Bcf of firm storage capacity (CP01-69).

Under its agreement with Petal, Southern Company contracted for 700,000 MMBtu/d of firm deliverability into Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line, Southern Natural and Destin Pipeline, and a maximum receipt quantity of 350,000 MMBtu/d from the three pipes. Petal’s bi-directional line would interconnect with the three pipes.

In addition to the 59-mile line, Petal is seeking to build an additional 9,000 hp compressor station near Heidelberg, MS; 0.3 miles of bi-directional 36-inch pipeline from a tie-in point on the Transco system to the proposed compressor station near Heidelberg; and new metering facilities.

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. Allrights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republishedor redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without priorwritten consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.