El Paso Energy’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company is holdingparallel binding open seasons running through late March for theEastern Express Project 2000. The two separate open seasons willcover emerging power generation and other growth markets in NewEngland, the New York City area, and the Ellisburg/Leidy storagearea. Shippers will be asked to submit bids and execute bindingprecedent agreements for receipts in New England, which closesMarch 24, and for receipts in the Gulf Coast, Chicago, NiagaraFalls, and Ellisburg/Leidy storage areas, which closes March 31.

In the non-binding open season for New England receipts, whichclosed Oct. 31, Tennessee received about 1.8 Bcf/d in requests forreceipts from the planned interconnect with the Portland NaturalGas Transmission System and the Maritimes and Northeast Pipelineprojects. Requests for receipts in the Gulf Coast, Niagara Falls,Chicago, and Ellisburg/Leidy storage areas totaled 2.3 Bcf/d in thenon-binding open season that closed Dec. 31. The most significantinterest came from Niagara Falls and the Gulf Coast.

“This binding open season will clarify the multiple levels ofbids that have been made and define the level of service actuallyrequired for the year 2000 in New England and in the rest of theNortheast,” said Jay Holm, senior vice president of Tennessee GasPipeline. “Tennessee is ideally situated to expand its existingsystem to transport incremental gas from key supply basins to thesehigh value markets and to phase-in capacity as needed. Mostimportantly, this project demonstrates that we are very committedto serve these evolving markets.”

A Tennessee spokesman said these should be the last open seasonsfor the project. The company said it remains on schedule to applyto the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this fall and hasreceived strong support for the project, scheduled to begin serviceNovember 2000. Requests for more than 4 Bcf/d were submitted duringthe two initial, non-binding open seasons in late 1997, the companysaid. For more information on each of the binding open seasons,interested shippers should contact Bob Bookstaber at (713) 757-3158or send a fax to (713) 757-2369.

Joe Fisher, Houston

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