SGR Holdings LLC said it is holding an open season from Nov. 5 to Dec. 5 to test market interest in extending the Southern Pines Energy Center pipeline/storage header north to interconnect directly with Southern Natural Gas Co. and Tennessee Gas Pipeline in Mississippi. The 12 Bcf Southern Pines salt dome gas storage field, which already has a FERC certificate, is expected to begin providing high-deliverability storage services in 2005.

Southern Pines will be located in Greene County, MS, with direct bi-directional interconnects to the pipeline facilities of Destin Pipeline, Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) and Transco’s Mobile Bay lateral, providing services to Station 85, Gulfstream, and Gulf South. SGR plans to file for FERC certificate authorization to construct additional pipeline interconnects with Tennessee and Southern Natural in early 2004.

“With the recent announcement of a proposed LNG terminal in Mobile Bay to be developed by ExxonMobil, the Southern Pines Energy Center is ideally situated to provide much needed flexibility and balancing from shipments of LNG cargoes and offshore production because of its quick cycling ability and multiple pipeline interconnects,” says Mark D. Cook, a principal of SGRM. “This new option will be valuable to pipelines, suppliers, and end users.”

When completed in 2005, the Southern Pines Energy Center will provide 12 Bcf of high-deliverability gas storage in two caverns that can be expanded to 16 Bcf. It will be capable of supporting natural gas withdrawal rates of up to 1.2 Bcf/d and injection rates of up to 600 MMcf/d.

SGRM has been authorized to offer firm and secondary firm storage services at “market-based” rates, allowing it to custom design services to meet the needs of individual customers.

Information about the open season process is available on SGR’s web site at www.sgr-holdings.com.

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