FERC on Tuesday gave Southern Natural Gas about a five-month reprieve to complete and put into service its Phase II pipeline looping and compression facilities to meet the expanding natural gas demand of industrial and power generation customers in the Southeast.

The Commission pushed back the project deadline to Dec. 1 of this year. This was the third extension granted to Southern Natural, an El Paso pipeline subsidiary, for the Phase II project, which was to have been completed by May 1.

“The extensions of time were necessary because of problems associated with the Highway 52 road bore in Georgia. Southern states that it has continued to encounter problems under Highway 52 and is working with the Georgia Department of Transportation to develop procedures that will allow it to complete the road bore,” said William L. Zoller of FERC’s Office of Energy Projects in a letter granting Southern Natural’s request for another postponement.

Phase II of Southern Natural’s project calls for the construction of approximately 46 miles of pipeline looping in Alabama and Georgia, and the addition of 13,010 horsepower of compression in Georgia and Mississippi. This is expected to create approximately 138,046 Mcf/d of added pipeline capacity. The pipeline began deliveries over its Phase I expansion facilities last year.

The Phase I facilities of the so-called South System Expansion II added about 70 miles of pipeline looping and 51,650 horsepower of new compression to the pipeline’s 8,200-mile delivery system that extends from Texas to Georgia to Florida. The facilities have a delivery capacity of 191,845 Mcf/d.

Both phases primarily are targeted at markets in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

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