Rockies Express Pipeline LLC, formerly known as Entrega Gas Pipeline LLC, has asked FERC to extend the deadline to construct and put in service the second half of Phase I of a 327-mile pipeline system that would interconnect with the rest of the mammoth Rockies Express pipeline at the Cheyenne Hub in northern Colorado.

The project, which FERC approved in August 2005, calls for the construction of the 327-mile system in two phases. Phase I of the pipeline would extend from the Meeker Hub in Rio Blanco County, CO, proceeding northward to the Wamsutter Hub in Sweetwater County, WY, and then continue southeastward to the terminus of the Cheyenne Hub in Weld County, CO. Phase II would include the construction of three compressor stations — the Meeker, Big Hole and Wamsutter Compressor Stations.

Phase I of the pipeline project is being built in two sections — 136 miles of 36-inch diameter pipeline from the Meeker Hub to the Wamsutter Hub, and approximately 191 miles of 42-inch diameter pipeline from the Wamsutter Hub to the Cheyenne Hub. The first half of Phase I was completed and went into service in February.

But “due to the scheduling and timing for the delivery of approximately 191 miles of 42-inch pipe and the receipt of all necessary permits, Rockies Express [the company] will not be in position to commence construction of the second segment of the Phase I facilities” in time to meet FERC’s Aug. 9, 2006 completion deadline for Phase I of the project, the company told FERC.

It asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for an additional five months — until Jan. 1, 2007 — to complete the second half of the Phase I facilities.

The former Entrega company also cited other factors in requesting the delay. “Due to the limited construction window near big game, migratory birds and raptor nets, construction delays for the second segment of the Phase I facilities are likely to be encountered. Also, construction activities that cross agricultural and irrigation lands are likely to be delayed due to the crop growing season,” it said.

Upon completion of Phase I and II, the facilities would connect at Cheyenne Hub with the proposed 1,350-mile Rockies Express pipeline system, which would extend to Clarington, OH, at a connection with Dominion Gas Transmission, Dominion East Ohio and Texas Eastern Transmission. The Rockies Express project, co-sponsored by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Sempra Pipelines & Storage, also would have interconnections to more than 10 other major interstate pipeline systems. Plans are in the works to extend the line further east (see Daily GPI, May 8).

If approved by FERC, the $3 billion, up to 42-inch diameter Kinder Morgan-Sempra gas pipeline to carry Rockies gas eastward to Ohio would be the largest built in the United States in more than 20 years.

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