NUI Corp. said Thursday that subsidiary Virginia Gas co. has completed its acquisition of a natural gas storage field in southwestern Virginia and now owns 100% of the Early Grove storage field. NUI said the field will give Virginia Gas more control to move natural gas supplies, manage storage contracts and develop the storage facility in Saltville, VA.

NUI also increased the projected storage capacity at the Saltville facility by almost 20% to 12 Bcf from 10 Bcf of working gas. The facility has a working gas capacity of 1.1 Bcf. The salt cavern facility is being jointly developed by NUI and Duke Energy Saltville Gas Storage LLC, a subsidiary of Duke Energy Gas Transmission. Plans call for expansion of the facility over three to seven years, depending on the market, and at full capacity based upon current projections, it will eventually be able to deliver up to 550 MMcf/d to the surrounding region through an interconnection to the East Tennessee Natural Gas mainline system.

“These storage facilities present NUI with the opportunity to play a major role in satisfying the growing demand for natural gas in the region,” said CEO John Kean Jr. “Preliminary indications are that Saltville’s total capacity could exceed today’s estimates once fully developed.” Kean said that further development of the facilities and additional connections to other pipelines would help the company “address future demand as it develops.”

NUI, headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, has also completed its acquisition of Virginia Gas Distribution Co., in which it owned 50%. Both the Early Grove and distribution company interests were purchased from H.A. Street and Edith Street of Grundy, VA but terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Virginia Gas plans to sell the natural gas distribution operation and will announce the sale of its propane distribution company within days.

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