Pipeline companies have scores of projects on the drawing board to export gas from the prolific Rocky Mountains region, but they are awaiting producer and customer commitments before going ahead with them, according to pipe executives.

“There are a lot of projects out there” for the Rockies, but some pipeline companies “are waiting for production,” while others “are waiting on markets” to develop, said Dave Scharf, director of business development for Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission LLC (KMIGT) following the Rocky Mountain Natural Gas Strategy Conference & Forum in Denver, CO, this week.

“We certainly aren’t going to build any pipelines on spec. We’re waiting for support from shippers,” he told NGI. Kinder Morgan is one of the leading builders of pipeline infrastructure in the gas-rich Rockies.

Scharf noted that Kinder Morgan’s Silver Canyon Pipeline project, which would transport Rocky Mountain gas to southwestern and California markets, is “more market driven,” and is awaiting the further development of the Phoenix, AZ, gas market. He also said the proposed pipeline would be influenced by the potential for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to come into California.

So far, there has been “good support” from Phoenix local distribution companies (LDCs) for the project, but no portion of the project going into California has been subscribed yet, Scharf said.

Kinder Morgan anticipates that it will eventually built Silver Canyon, but “when is the question,” he noted. The proposed 36-inch diameter line, which would begin at Blanco where the TransColorado pipeline system terminates, would deliver 750 MDth/d of Rocky Mountain gas to Arizona and southern California. About 350 MDth/d of the capacity would go to interconnects with Southern California Gas and also to the North Baja Pipeline, for delivery to Mexico.

Scharf said Southwest Gas and Arizona Public Service, among others, have expressed interest in transportation capacity on the proposed Silver Canyon line.

He noted that Kinder Morgan is seeking producer support before building its proposed Advantage Pipeline. Specifically, it is waiting for Piceance Basin supplies to get to the Cheyenne Hub via either EnCana Corp.’s proposed Entrega Pipeline or Colorado Interstate Gas’s (CIG) announced expansion from the Piceance Basin in northwestern Colorado to Wamsutter, WY. CIG is a pipe subsidiary of El Paso Corp.

The proposed Advantage pipeline would transport gas from the Cheyenne Hub in Weld County, CO, and from interconnecting pipelines — Wyoming Interstate Co. (WIC), CIG and KMIGT — to Midcontinent interconnects with ANR, Natural Gas Pipeline Co. and other pipes near Greensburg, KS.

With the large quantities of Piceance Basin gas, “we think there will be a definite need for this project,” Scharf noted.

Kinder Morgan also is mulling the construction of a new pipeline that would connect its Oil Springs Storage facility in Wyoming to either several pipe systems — CIG, WIC, Southern Star Central and the proposed Entrega pipe — or just one of them.

He said it was “pretty surprising” to hear gas officials and analysts at the conference forecast that production from the Rocky Mountains would surpass Gulf Coast production within the next decade. If that turns out to be the case, he doubts that enough takeaway capacity could be built by then to deliver Rocky Mountain gas to markets. “I can’t see how Rockies infrastructure could look like the Gulf Coast in 10 years. That’s a lot of infrastructure to build.”

Right now, Scharf noted that pipeline infrastructure in the Rocky Mountains is tight. But he expects that to change later this year when the CIG-sponsored Cheyenne Plains Gas Pipeline goes into service, delivering 560 MDth/d of gas from the Cheyenne Hub to pipelines interconnecting in Kansas. There “should be excess infrastructure [then]…at least for a short time.”

The full 560 MDth/d of Cheyenne Plains’ capacity is scheduled to be in service by Dec. 31 of this year, said Greg Ruben, director of marketing for CIG. He noted that around Dec. 1 about 400 MDth/d of free-flow capacity will be available on the line. Phase II of the Cheyenne Plains’ project, which calls for an expansion of 170 MDth/d, is targeted for in-service in early 2006, he noted.

Phase I of the Cheyenne Plains pipeline project is fully contracted on an annual basis, but it does have some winter holding space available, according to Ruben. As for other El Paso-related Rockies expansions, he said that WIC’s proposed Piceance expansion is slated for in-service in December 2005. The 143-mile pipeline will transport Piceance gas from Greasewood, CO, to Wamsutter, where it would interconnect with the CIG and WIC mainline systems. The diameter of the pipe, which originally was to be 20 inches, may be expanded to 30 inches, Ruben said.

WIC’s Echo Springs lateral is due to go into service in mid-September, he noted. The project will receive and transport up to 116 MDth/d from the Williams Field Services’ gas processing plant located in Sweetwater County, WY, to an interconnect with WIC’s mainline in Carbon County, WY, and will provide additional gas supplies for existing shippers on the WIC pipeline system.

Ruben further said that the company plans to file an application for its 2005 Raton Expansion — a 97-mile partial looping of CIG’s system, with a diameter ranging from 16 to 24 inches. In-service is targeted for October 2005.

With the expansion of its northern system to allow for additional deliveries of 160 MDth to Kern River Gas Transmission completed a year ago, Questar Pipeline has proposed an expansion of its southern system to transport an additional 102 MDth/d of gas to Kern’s system, said Shelley Wright, director of business development for Questar Regulated Services Co. The project is expected to be in-service by November 2005.

In addition, Questar is “actively pursuing” a Piceance Basin-to-Greasewood pipeline project, an extension of the Overthrust Pipeline to the Wamsutter area, and a so-called Rock Springs Storage project, she said.. There is “quite a bit of interest in this [latter] project,” which would have 20 Bcf of working gas capacity.

“The Rockies are the place to be [now] and everyone wants to be a part of that action,” whether they are a pipeline or producer, noted Kinder Morgan’s Scharf.

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