Oneok Inc. said it has been selected to provide subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Corp. with natural gas supply and gas management services for three natural gas-fired power plants. Under the three-year contract, Oneok Energy Services will serve as the exclusive gas commodity and services provider to FirstEnergy Generation Corp.’s power plants in Richland and West Lorain, OH, and Sumpter, MI.

Oneok said it will be FirstEnergy’s agent responsible for managing 290,000 Dth/d of transportation capacity and 185,000 MMBtu/d of storage deliverability. It also will be responsible for optimizing the delivered cost of the gas to FirstEnergy.

“We are confident that we can meet FirstEnergy’s need for a reliable natural gas supplier with our experience and knowledge of the natural gas markets and transportation systems,” said Billy Maxwell, president of Oneok Energy Services.

Oneok also will be able to utilize FirstEnergy’s unused transportation and storage capacity to handle third-party needs. “This arrangement provides us with the opportunity to develop and expand our gas supply and management capabilities into a relatively new geographic area, serving potential customers in eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and is further evidence of our focus on meeting the physical natural gas storage and transportation needs of our customers,” Maxwell added.

A Oneok spokesperson said this is the company’s first transportation and storage management transaction but the company is in the market for similar optimization deals.

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