An alliance of Horizon Offshore Inc., Enron Offshore Services & Technology, and Mexico's Cigsa has received a letter of award for the EPC 64 project from Pemex Exploracion y Produccion. The project is for the installation, bury, hook-up, and commissioning of seven pipelines in the Cantarell fields complex in the Bay of Campeche. Horizon will provide all marine construction for the project, with work scheduled to commence this month. Horizon will use one of its pipelay barges, the Gulf Horizon, for laying the 12, 20, and 24-in. pipelines. Its bury barge, the Canyon Horizon, will perform jetting operations to bury the pipelines and will also undertake activities associated with crossing existing pipelines. Horizon will use its 500-ton derrick barge, the Atlantic Horizon, to perform platform hook-up, subsea tie-ins, and pipeline riser installations.
Independence Pipeline Co. has formally accepted the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued July 12, 2000, by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Acceptance of the certificate means Independence is authorized by FERC to construct its proposed natural gas pipeline from Defiance, Ohio, to Leidy, Pa., in accordance with the terms of the certificate. The certificate includes certain environmental conditions and additional market requirements that will be met before or during construction. Independence Pipeline is a general partnership formed by subsidiaries of Coastal Corp.'s ANR Pipeline Co. unit, Williams's Transco pipeline, and National Fuel Gas Co. The $678 million Independence Pipeline will consist of about 400 miles of 36-in. pipe extending from ANR's existing compressor station at Defiance, Ohio, to Transco's and National Fuel's facilities in Leidy, Pa. It will have an initial capacity of 916 MMcfd. The line is expected to be in service in November 2002.
Partners in the Guardian Pipeline project have awarded a contract to IPSCO Inc., Regina, Sask., to manufacture and deliver to Wisconsin and Illinois the steel pipe needed to build a 141-mile, 36-in. segment of the Guardian Pipeline project. IPSCO will start constructing the pipe during fall 2001, which will keep Guardian on track to meet its scheduled in-service date of November 2002. Guardian Pipeline will transport natural gas from interconnections with the Alliance, Northern Border, Midwestern Gas Transmission, and Natural Gas Pipeline of America pipelines at the Chicago hub near Joliet, Ill., to northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin markets. The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in June approved a preliminary determination order, finding that the project is in the public interest. A final FERC decision is expected by early next year. Guardian partners are CMS Energy Corp., Dearborn, Mich.; Wisconsin Energy Corp. subsidiary WICOR, Milwaukee; and Northern States Power Co. subsidiary Viking Gas, St. Paul.
Wyoming Interstate Gas Co. Ltd. (WIC), an affiliate of Coastal Corp., placed into service Aug. 7 additional compression to expand capacity on the Medicine Bow Lateral pipeline in northeastern Wyoming. The new compression raised pipeline capacity to 380 million dekatherms/day of natural gas from 260 million dekatherms/day. WIC plans to expand capacity out of the Powder River basin near Douglas, Wyo., to WIC's mainline southwest of Cheyenne, Wyo., by looping the existing lateral with 155 miles of 36-in. pipe and adding 14,340 hp of compression at a cost of $168 million. The planned Medicine Bow Loop will raise WIC's capacity out of Powder River by 675,000 dekatherms/day. WIC said it would file an application for the Medicine Bow Loop with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission next month. The company plans to have the new pipeline in service by late 2001.