El Paso Corp. has executed a precedent agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for long-term firm transportation service on El Paso’s Ruby Pipeline project, the company said last Friday.

Ruby is a proposed 680-mile, 42-inch diameter gas transmission pipeline that would begin at the Opal Hub in Wyoming and terminate at the Malin, OR, interconnect near California’s northern border. The PG&E agreement provides for transportation of 375,000 Dth/d for a 15-year term.

“We are very pleased by PG&E’s decision to become an anchor shipper on the Ruby Pipeline,” said Jim Cleary, president of El Paso’s Western Pipeline Group. “Ruby will provide PG&E and its customers access to natural gas from the Rockies, the nation’s most important supply growth region for natural gas.”

El Paso said it is in discussions with other prospective Ruby shippers and will announce a formal open season shortly. Subject to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other regulatory approvals, and after obtaining necessary customer commitments, the Ruby Pipeline is anticipated to be in service in the first quarter of 2011.

Houston-based El Paso is partnering on the Ruby project with The Bear Stearns Companies Inc.’s Bear Energy LP. El Paso said Ruby would have an initial capacity of 1.2 Bcf/d and be expandable to 2 Bcf/d. Bear Energy may become an initial shipper on the pipeline, El Paso said (see Daily GPI, Dec. 4).

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