A subsidiary of Duke Energy’s Market Hub Partners (MHP) last week asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the preliminary go-ahead to develop an underground natural gas storage facility in Copiah County, MS.

In an application filed Wednesday, Copiah County Storage Co. said the new facility would have an initial storage capacity of 3.3 Bcf, about 300 MMcf/d of withdrawal capability and approximately 150 MMcf/d of injection capability. The storage capacity of the proposed facility could be expanded by an additional 6 Bcf to 9.9 Bcf, the company noted.

Copiah said it was seeking a preliminary determination from FERC by Feb. 20, 2002, and a final order by July 24, 2002 in order to meet a projected in-service date of Feb. 1, 2004.

“Natural gas continues to be the fuel of choice for power generation,” said Gregory Rizzo, vice president of marketing for Duke Energy Gas Transmission (DEGT) and president of MHP. “The deliverability characteristics of salt cavern storage, which permits rapid withdrawal of gas, will allow storage customers to meet their peak needs more efficiently than traditional reservoir storage facilities.”

The proposed storage facility would interconnect with nearby DEGT’s Texas Eastern Transmission system, according to the application.

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