PanEnergy Corp., positioning itself for a stronger regional presence in the natural gas-hungry U.S. Northeast, has proposed two new pipeline projects.
One project, called Spectrum, will add as much as 500 MMcfd of firm natural gas transportation capacity from the Chicago area to the East Coast.
The project will essentially link PanEnergy's four existing interstate pipeline systems-Texas Eastern, Algonquin, Panhandle Eastern, and Trunkline-by adding new capacity only where necessary, to minimize environmental impact.
PanEnergy hopes for fast-track approval of the project at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), so extra service can be phased in starting on Nov. 1, 1998, with the full 500 MMcfd available by Nov. 1, 2000.
PanEnergy will take capacity nominations from prospective shippers in an open season next month. PanEnergy also will accept offers from shippers to permanently release existing unused capacity, in order to minimize construction of new facilities.
A detailed route description is not yet available, PanEnergy said, because the project still is not formally filed at FERC.
The second project, called Excelsior, will provide 500 MMcfd of new capacity between Woodbridge, N.J., and New York City by adding 44 miles of 30-in. pipeline, mostly offshore. From Woodbridge, the pipeline would traverse Staten Island and cross the lower New York Bay, terminating on Long Island near the John F. Kennedy International Airport. As with Spectrum, detailed route maps are not yet available.
Deliveries into Excelsior would be made through a number of pipelines connecting with Texas Eastern. The project also will provide additional access to gas supplies from eastern Canada, including the proposed Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline connecting gas fields off Nova Scotia's Sable Island with New England (OGJ, Feb.17, 1997, p. 31). PanEnergy is the operator of the U.S. portion of the Maritimes project.
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