Williams Energy’s Kern River Gas Transmission announced an openseason last week to determine if customers on the system arewilling to relinquish enough capacity to meet the demand ofcompanies wishing to serve the Salt Lake City market. The openseason will run through March 3 and results will be announcedsometime in late March, a Williams spokesperson said.

Williams said the open season is being held to “determineinterest for firm transportation service to Salt Lake and UtahCounty markets in Northern Utah and to determine interest forcapacity relinquishment from existing shippers.” Kern is offeringboth firm year-round or firm seasonal transportation service. Theproposed commencement date for the offered service is Nov. 1, 2001,with a minimum service length of 5.5 years.

The minimum acceptable rate is 17 cents/Mcf plus a Kernsurcharge. This rate differs from normal Kern River rates, whichcurrently stand at 66 cents/Dth for anywhere on the entire system.

“If enough gas is let go and enough demand is found, we willoffer a new service to the Salt Lake City region,” said Lori Brown,a Williams spokesperson. “Right now, we offer just interruptibleservice to utilities and end users in that region.”

This open season represents an alternative method for Kern toreach the Salt Lake City market. Earlier last week, Questar filed amotion at FERC, requesting permission to build an interconnectbetween its proposed Mainline 104 pipeline and the Kern system nearElberta, UT, to backhaul gas into the Salt Lake City market. (seeDaily GPI, Feb. 3)

Interested parties should call (801) 584-7270.

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