Mile

Questar Pipeline Co. filed an application with FERC this week tobuild a 75.6-mile, 272,000 Dth/d pipeline loop running fromnortheastern Utah to north central Utah. The project, called MainLine (M.L.) No. 104, would cost more than $80.8 million and loop aportion of Questar’s existing M.L. No. 40 and the entirety of M.L.No. 41. It would extend from a coal-seam reserve in the area ofPrice, UT to interconnections with the its own Payson Citygate andalso potentially Kern River. Questar requested the Commission issuean order authorizing construction no later than August.

TransCanada PipeLines has shelved plans to build a 90-mileextension of its mainline system into the southern portion of theNorthwest Territories to tap a major new production area near FortLiard that is estimated to hold 5 Tcf of potential reserves. Thepipeline company said there is not enough producer interest at thistime so the project has been put on indefinite hold. However, themuch larger Mackenzie Delta pipeline project, which would extendabout 1,800 miles to the northwest, is still on the front burner.

Petal Gas Storage, a subsidiary of Crystal Gas Storage Inc., hasfiled with FERC to build a 64.2-mile, 36-inch pipeline to accessexpanded capacity at its Mississippi salt cavern storage facilityand make deliveries under a new, large, long term storage contractwith Southern Company Services (SCS).

Petal Gas Storage, a subsidiary of Crystal Gas Storage Inc., hasfiled with FERC to build a 64.2-mile, 36-inch pipeline to accessexpanded capacity at its Mississippi salt cavern storage facilityand make deliveries under a new, large, long term storage contractwith Southern Company Services (SCS).

TransCanada PipeLines has shelved plans to build a 90-mileextension of its mainline system into the southern portion of theNorthwest Territories to tap a major new production area near FortLiard that is estimated to hold 5 Tcf of potential reserves. Thepipeline company said there is not enough producer interest at thistime so the project has been put on indefinite hold. However, themuch larger Mackenzie Delta pipeline project, which would extendabout 1,800 miles to the northwest, is still on the front burner.

AltaGas Services acquired a 53-mile gas gathering system andrelated compression in the Kindersley area of Saskatchewan for C$3million. The acquisition of the Kindersley & Kerrobert gasgathering systems are a significant strategic addition to AltaGas’Central Border gas gathering and processing complex. With theaddition of these systems AltaGas’ contiguous presence in westcentral Saskatchewan is 56 miles east from the Alberta/Saskatchewanborder. This extensive area presence provides AltaGas withsignificant opportunity as producers are expected to substantiallyincrease gas drilling activity in this currently largelyundeveloped gas region. Since AltaGas’ first acquisition in thisarea in 1996, Central Border has increased from a 4 MMcf/dprocessing facility with 49 miles of gathering lines to an 81MMcf/d processing complex with more than 311miles of gatheringlines. With the addition of these new assets utilization of theCentral Border complex will be 78%.

Coastal says it has joined Peoples Energy to build a 130-milepipeline from Indiana to Wisconsin because the market needs thepipe. Others, especially backers of the proposed Guardian Pipeline,say the parent of ANR Pipeline is merely trying to protect its lockon the Wisconsin market.

Growing power generation and LDC demand for gas have promptedPeoples Energy and The Coastal Corp. to team up to develop a130-mile gas pipeline from Indiana to Wisconsin. The pipe, aimed atincremental growth markets, is intended to serve electric powerplants and local utility growth markets in northern Illinois,northwestern Indiana and Wisconsin beginning in late 2001. Initialcapacity will be 1.4 Bcf/d. According to the North AmericanElectric Reliability Council, the region will need more than 8,200megawatts of additional generating capacity by 2005.

The 800-mile Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline took the stagelast week, but its supporting cast, the Sable Offshore EnergyProject, couldn’t make the show. After running the regulatory andpolitical gauntlet north of the border, the pipeline has been lefthanging by producers, who are more than a week away from initialdeliveries.