Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP subsidiaries Gulf Crossing Pipeline Co. LLC and Gulf South Pipeline Co. LP have asked FERC for authorization to place their 42-inch diameter Mississippi Loop in service by Dec. 29, the companies said Tuesday.

In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the companies said the tie-in points and hydrostatic testing are complete and they estimated that the Mississippi Loop facilities will be purged and packed by Dec. 29. The 17.8 miles of pipeline loop between Hinds County, MS, and Simpson County, MS, is part of the Gulf Crossing Pipeline project.

Gulf Crossing expects to place in service during the first quarter of 2009 the 356.3-mile, 42-inch diameter pipeline and associated compression facilities (100,734 hp) extending from Sherman, TX, to an interconnect with affiliate Gulf South Pipeline’s Tallulah Compressor Station in Madison Parish, LA. It also proposes to lease up to 165,000 Dth/d of upstream capacity on the Oklahoma intrastate system of Enogex and up to 1.4 Bcf/d of capacity on Gulf South from Tallulah to an interconnect with Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s Station 85 in Choctaw County, AL, located at the terminus of Gulf South’s 116-mile Southeast Expansion Project [CP07-398, CP07-401]. Some shippers are challenging the leasing of the Enogex capacity (see Daily GPI, Oct. 24, 2007).

The companies said they expect the project to provide up to 1.732 Bcf/d of capacity. Devon Energy Corp., Enterprise Products Partners LP and Crosstex Energy LP are among the companies that have committed to transportation capacity on the line.

Last Month FERC approved MarkWest Pioneer LLC’s proposal to build the 24-inch diameter Arkoma Connector Pipeline, which would extend from the outlet of an affiliate’s existing treating plant in northeast Oklahoma 50 miles in a southeasterly direction to near Bennington, OK, where it would interconnect with the proposed Midcontinent Express and Gulf Crossing pipeline systems (see Daily GPI, Nov. 14). MarkWest’s interstate natural gas pipeline would allow producers in the Woodford Shale area of Oklahoma to access Midcontinent Express and Gulf Crossing for delivery of their gas to eastern markets.

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