FERC Wednesday granted Mississippi Hub LLC (MS Hub) a multi-year extension of the deadline to complete and place into service its proposed salt dome natural gas storage facility near Jackson County, MS.

“MS Hub states that while project construction is proceeding with due diligence, MS Hub will not be able to make the project facilities available for service by the Feb. 15, 2009 deadline due to construction delays and market changes,” the Lafayette, LA-based storage developer told FERC [CP07-4].

“Currently MS Hub expects to complete construction of its first storage cavern during the first half of 2011. By early 2012, MS Hub expects that all remaining project facilities will be completed.” The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given the company until Feb. 15, 2012 to complete the facilities and place them in operation.

The two-cavern facility is under construction at the Bond Salt Dome in southeastern Mississippi. FERC certificated each cavern to have a working capacity of 6 Bcf, but Mississippi Hub plans to expand the capacity of each cavern to 7.5 Bcf, said Russell Murrell, vice president of marketing.

Mississippi Hub’s location will allow access to traditional gas supplies in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Gulf Coast, as well as emerging production from the Barnett Shale, East Texas and northern Louisiana (see Daily GPI, Feb. 8, 2008).

The storage facility is being developed near interstate pipelines and pipeline expansion projects that access major gas markets, including Southern Natural Gas, Crosstex Pipeline, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line, Gulf South Pipeline, Kinder Morgan/Energy Transfer Partners’ Midcontinent Express and Southeast Supply Header LLC.

Last year San Diego-based Sempra Energy acquired Mobile, AL-based EnergySouth, which has a 60% interest in Mississippi Hub (see Daily GPI, July 29, 2008).

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