FERC last Thursday approved a major interstate natural gas pipeline project that would provide additional takeaway capacity for producers in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas basins, as well as a salt dome storage facility proposed for Southeast Texas.

Receiving a certificate was the Southeast Supply Header project, a 270-mile pipeline that would extend from the Perryville Hub near Delhi, LA, and continue through Mississippi and terminate near Coden, AL. The line would carry up to 1.114 Bcf/d of natural gas destined for southeastern and northeastern markets [CP07-44]. The proposed pipeline is sponsored in part by Southern Natural Gas and subsidiaries of CenterPoint Energy and Spectra Energy.

The pipeline project would transport gas from the Barnett Shale and Bossier Sands in Texas, the Arkoma Basin in Oklahoma/Arkansas and the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order requires the pipeline to be completed within one year.

Customers that signed up for capacity include Florida Power and Light, Progress Energy Florida, Tampa Electric and EOG Resources.

Westport, CT-based NGS Investments LLC, an independent storage developer, won approval to build a 54 Bcf salt dome natural gas storage facility in Matagorda County in Southeast Texas. An estimated 36.4 Bcf will be working gas and 17.95 Bcf will be used as cushion gas, the FERC order noted [CP07-90].

The Tres Palacios Gas Storage Project will be designed to allow cycling of up to seven times a year, with a peak injection rate of 1 Bcf/d and a maximum withdrawal capability of 2.5 Bcf/d, the agency said. Tres Palacios also plans to construct approximately 42 miles of pipeline that would extend from the proposed storage facility to interconnections with 12 intrastate and interstate pipelines [CP07-91]. The FERC order requires the storage and pipeline facilities to be built and in service within one year.

FERC also approved the company’s request to charge market-based storage rates for firm and interruptible service, subject to the conditions imposed in the Commission order.

Tres Palacios would be situated between several proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals, including Calhoun LNG and Freeport LNG. The project includes a header system that crosses over 8 Bcf/d of downstream pipeline capacity.

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