Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline LP, operator of a major intrastate system located in the Texas Gulf Coast, has filed an amendment to an application to construct a border-crossing pipeline to serve the expanding natural gas demand in northern Mexico.

In the amendment filed at FERC, it seeks to increase the diameter of the facilities to 30 inches from 24 inches, which would raise the design capacity to 375 MMcf/d from 270 MMcf/d. In addition, Kinder Morgan proposes to reduce the length of the border-crossing line, which will be located south of Roma, TX, by 622 feet to 878 feet.

At the U.S.-Mexico border, the proposed border facilities would connect a new 8.9-mile extension of Kinder Morgan’s Texas intrastate system with gas pipeline facilities to be built by affiliate Kinder Morgan Gas Natural de Mexico. Kinder Morgan Mexico already has received authorization from Mexican regulators to proceed with the line.

The sole customer on Kinder Morgan’s Mexican facilities will be Pemex-Gas y Petroquimica Basica (Pemex), which will deliver the gas to customers in the Monterrey area. It will purchase the gas at the U.S.-Mexico border from MGI Supply Ltd., according to the amended application. Kinder Morgan said contracts have been signed with both Pemex and MGI.

This marks the second time that the project, which was first approved by FERC in November 1996, has been amended. The border project initially was proposed by KN Energy, which was acquired by Kinder Morgan in 1999. The cost of the proposed border-crossing facilities has been estimated at $500,000.

Kinder Morgan, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, asked the Commission to act quickly so it can begin construction by the end of the third quarter of this year, which it said would allow it to put the facilities into service in a “timely fashion.”

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