Transwestern Pipeline has placed its Red Rock expansion into service, adding 120 MMcf/d of firm capacity to its system to serve the growing power generation market in California.

The $72 million project added a total of 124,500 horsepower of new compression at three stations in Arizona, bringing the capacity on Transwestern’s system to 1.2 Bcf/d at the California border. The project originally was priced at $93 million and called for compression to be added at four stations, but the pipeline scaled back its plans.

The original Red Rock application approved by FERC was for an increase of 150 MMcf/d, but only 120 MMcf/d was contracted under terms of up to 15 years, a spokeswoman said (see NGI, April 2, 2001). The project expands capacity from Transwestern’s West of Thoreau receipt points to delivery points in the Southwest and at the California border.

In a related expansion, the spokeswoman last week said Transwestern was moving ahead to develop its proposed Sun Devil project, which, upon completion, will serve the Phoenix and Southern California natural gas markets. She noted the Enron pipeline was working with prospective expansion shippers to firm up capacity agreements. An open season for the project, which ended last August, yielded requests for more than 1.3 Bcf/d of capacity.

With approximately 400 miles of new interstate pipeline expected to be added to the 2,500-mile Transwestern system, the Sun Devil project would bring natural gas from the San Juan and Rocky Mountain supply basins to market areas in Phoenix, as well as California, by January 2004. It would be the first time that Transwestern would serve the Phoenix area. Transwestern has not yet filed an application at FERC on the Sun Devil project.

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