A Williams pipeline unit said last week that it has receivednonbinding interest for about 190 MMcf/d on its proposedinternational gas pipeline link from the Pacific Northwest tocogeneration plants on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Thestrong results prompted Williams and its partner, BC Hydro, to goback to the drawing board on the proposed size, route and generalscope of the project, which was originally estimated at about $120million and 100 MMcf/d.

Although he refused to divulge the expected customers’s names,Williams’ Hank Henry said his project team is going back “torevisit the size and design of the proposed project” that involvesan 85-mile, 16-inch-diameter pipeline (44 miles underwater), calledthe Georgia Strait Crossing Project for the body of water it wouldcross.

“Originally we designed the project to meet the need of two BCHydro cogeneration facilities on the island, which totals about 85MMcf/d, so our design came out at 100 MMcf/d. So we are now goingto go back and re-look at our hydraulic studies and engineeringdesign in the next 30 days,” said Henry, the Salt Lake City-basedproject manager for Williams. He noted the two cogeneration plantsare included in the 190 MMcf/d total.

Henry said he hopes to have customers under contract by May sothe project can then “go full speed ahead” with applications to theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Canadian NationalEnergy Board by August. The prospective target for starting up thenew pipeline is November 2002 carrying Rocky Mountain, BC andAlberta supplies.

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