Statement

FERC staff issued a positive draft environmental impact statement Friday on three separate but interrelated pipeline projects in the Rockies that will transport about 1.5 Bcf/d of gas. The projects collectively total about 796 miles of new pipeline that would cross Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico, and 237,320 hp of new compression. They include the Rockies Express West (Rex West) project, an expansion of the TransColorado Gas Transmission and an expansion and extension of Questar’s Overthrust Pipeline.

FERC staff issued a positive draft environmental impact statement Friday on three separate but interrelated pipeline projects in the Rockies that will transport about 1.5 Bcf/d of gas. The projects collectively total about 796 miles of new pipeline that would cross Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico, and 237,320 hp of new compression. They include the Rockies Express West (Rex West) project, an expansion of the TransColorado Gas Transmission and an expansion and extension of Questar’s Overthrust Pipeline.

Responding to Canada Southern Petroleum Ltd.’s latest statement Friday that shareholders should reject Canadian Superior Energy Inc.’s amended bid and tender their shares to Canadian Oil Sands’ (COS) offer (see Daily GPI, Aug. 14), Canadian Superior said Monday that it is “surprised” by Canada Southern’s “pessimistic view of its own Arctic natural gas interests.” Canada Southern also reported Monday that its 2Q2006 earnings were weaker than normal due to the company’s “hostile takeover defense” from Petro-Canada, which has since let its bid expire (see Daily GPI, July 13).

Following five years of study and analysis, including 14 public meetings, the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) has been issued for the 125,000-acre Northern San Juan Basin Coal Bed Methane Project in Colorado by the San Juan Public Lands Center, which is a combination of the Bureau of Land Management and the San Juan National Forest.

Following five years of study and analysis, including 14 public meetings, the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) has been issued for the 125,000-acre Northern San Juan Basin Coal Bed Methane Project in Colorado by the San Juan Public Lands Center, which is a combination of the Bureau of Land Management and the San Juan National Forest.

FERC staff, in a notice issued Friday, said it has cooperated in a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the Northeast Gateway offshore LNG project planned by Excelerate Energy LLC, with a 16-mile, 24-inch diameter pipeline to be built by Algonquin Gas Transmission to connect the proposed LNG facility with the HubLine pipeline in Massachusetts.

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments on a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on Suez’s proposed Neptune liquefied natural gas (LNG) deepwater port, which would be located about eight miles southeast of Gloucester, MA and 22 miles northeast of Boston. The project would include a subsea pipeline and a submerged buoy system that would surface to connect two cargo ships with onboard regasification. The 11-mile, 24-inch diameter pipeline would bring an average of 500 MMcf/d of regasified LNG to a connection with Algonquin’s HubLine pipeline in Boston Harbor. Construction would take about three years with commercial operation expected in 2009. The DEIS stated that using one pipeline system for the Neptune project and the competing Northeast Gateway offshore LNG project, sponsored by Excelerate Energy, would reduce the environmental impacts of both projects. The agencies considered the impacts of three proposed LNG import terminals: Neptune, Northeast Gateway and AES Battery Rock, which would be built on an island near the entrance to Boston Harbor. Public meetings on the Neptune DEIS will be held later this month in Massachusetts. For more information, go to MARAD’s website at http://www.marad.dot.gov/dwp/index.asp.

The FERC staff Friday issued a favorable draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Centerpoint Energy Gas Transmission’s (CEGT) 172-mile, 42-inch Carthage, TX to Perryville, LA, pipeline project (CP06-85).

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued a notice of intent (NOI) to prepare an environmental impact statement and related scoping process for two combined Rockies gas exploration and development plays planned by Devon Energy Corp. and BP, covering potentially up to 8,950 new natural gas wells in what the BLM has designated as the “Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas Project.”