FERC last Monday gave Northwest Pipeline, a subsidiary of The Williams Companies, the green light to place into service new pipeline loops in several counties in Washington State.

Northwest Pipeline Corp.’s Oct. 10 request involves pipeline loops in Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King, Pierce and Thurston counties. The new facilities are part of the $333 million Capacity Replacement Project that involved the abandonment of 268 miles of 26-inch pipeline between Sumas and Washougal, WA, the construction of nearly 80 miles of 36-inch pipe in four separate loops along the Sumas-to-Washougal corridor, and the addition of 10,760 horsepower of net compression at the existing Chehalis and Washougal compressor stations.

The new pipeline facilities and additional compression horsepower will replace most of the 360,000 Dth/d of the Sumas-to-Washougal corridor capacity attributable to the abandoned 26-inch line, Northwest said.

The Northwest project was prompted by two separate ruptures on the pipeline’s 26-inch diameter system on May 1, 2003 near Lake Trapps, WA, and on Dec. 13 of that year near Toledo in Lewis County, WA. Although there were no explosions or injuries, the federal Office of Pipeline Safety and the Pipeline Safety Division of the state Utilities and Transportation Commission ordered Northwest to replace portions of the defective pipeline, which was installed in 1956.

Salt Lake City, UT-based Northwest Pipeline’s system consists of 4,158 miles of pipeline, delivering 3.5 Bcf/d of natural gas to markets in the western United States. Its major markets are Seattle, WA, and Portland, OR.

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