Transwestern Pipeline got environmental clearance at FERC last Wednesday to carry out a looping and compression expansion of its San Juan lateral to transport up to 375 MMcf/d of new production from the San Juan Basin and other producing areas in the Rocky Mountain region.

“Approval of the proposed project, with appropriate mitigating measures, would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” FERC staff concluded in its environmental assessment of the San Juan 2005 Expansion Project [CP04-104].

The $138 million supply-driven project calls for the construction of 73 miles of 36-inch diameter of pipeline that would loop the lateral from the Blanco Hub in San Juan County, NM, to the point of interconnection with Transwestern’s mainline, as well as modification of compression facilities at Transwestern’s Bloomfield, Bisti and Gallup Compressor Stations in New Mexico.

Transwestern expects to begin construction by Oct. 1 of this year, and place the facilities in service by June 1, 2005.

The pipeline has said the project is backed by multi-year firm service agreements with BP, ConocoPhillips, Burlington Resources and Red Willow Production. It further noted that the production transported over the expanded San Juan line will include a mix of conventional supply and coalbed methane from the San Juan basin and northern Rockies.

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