Kinder Morgan signed an agreement to purchase Citizens Communications’ natural gas division in Colorado for $11 million. The transaction, which must be approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, will add more than 13,000 primarily residential, commercial and agricultural customers to KMI’s retail natural gas division. KMI currently serves 225,000 customers in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming, about 55,000 of which are located in Colorado. “This is a natural extension of our Colorado operations, as we have extensive experience serving small and rural communities, said Dan Watson, president of KMI’s retail natural gas division. “We look forward to adding these new customers to our service portfolio.” The asset purchase consists primarily of regulated gas distribution systems. In Colorado, Citizens’ serves 10,600 customers in Bent, Crowley, and Otero Counties, plus another 2,800 customers in Archuleta, La Plata, and Mineral Counties.

FERC has awarded a preliminary determination on non-environmental issues to Northwest Pipeline Corp. to build a 9.4-mile lateral to provide 133,000 Dth/d of gas service to Northwest Power Co. LLC’s proposed 248 MWh electric power plant and Puget Sound Energy Inc.’s distribution system. The project has an estimated price tag of $17.2 million.

FERC yesterday gave Petal Gas Storage LLC the green light to make some changes to a certificate it received in March 2000 to expand its two-cavern storage facility in Mississippi. While the combined expansion of the working gas capacity of the two caverns will remain unchanged at 10 Bcf, Petal asked the Commission for the authority to increase the certificated size of Cavern No. 7 from maximum and working gas capacities of 7.9 Bcf and 5 Bcf, respectively, to 9.3 Bcf and 5.9 Bcf, and to reduce the certificated size of Cavern No. 6 from maximum and working gas capacities of 7.9 Bcf and 5 Bcf, respectively, to 6.5 Bcf and 4.1 Bcf. The Commission granted the requests, saying they were “reasonable under the circumstances presented by Petal.” It also gave Petal an extension until May 1, 2002 to place its expanded caverns into service.

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