More than 1,765 miles of natural gas pipeline with a total capacity of 12,549 MMcf/d were placed in service last year, up from 1,162 miles and 11,865 MMcf/d in 2010, but pipeline capacity certified by FERC was down significantly in 2011 compared with 2010.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) certified 324 miles of natural gas pipeline with a total capacity of 4,178 MMcf/d in 2011, down from 1,589 miles and 9,236 MMcf/d a year earlier, according to the Commission’s latest energy infrastructure update. Total certified pipeline compression in 2011 was 312,255 hp, a decline of 40% from 522,194 hp in 2010, according to the report. In all, FERC certified 18 pipeline projects last year, down from 24 in 2010.

FERC also issued certificates for 13 storage projects last year, seven more than in 2010. The storage capacity of the 2011 projects was 181.4 Bcf, an increase from 149.4 Bcf in 2010, while their deliverability was 4,495 MMcf/d, a decline from 5,608 MMcf/d.

In December D-Lo Gas Storage LLC, a new entrant in the natural gas storage business, filed an application to build a facility in the D’Lo Salt Dome underground salt formation with a combined working gas capacity of 24 Bcf in south-central Mississippi (see Daily GPI, Dec. 30, 2011).

No liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects were certified in 2011, but two LNG projects were placed in service during the year — only one more than in 2010. However, storage capacity for the two projects last year was far greater (23.2 Bcf) than the capacity put in service in 2010 (4.22 Bcf), as was deliverability (3,500 MMcf/d in 2011, compared with 400 MMcf/d in 2010).

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