By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Oct. 11 -- Enbridge Inc., Calgary, is buying natural gas gathering, treating, and transmission facilities in south Texas from a unit of Williams Cos. Inc., Tulsa, in a $50 million deal that further expands the firm's "geographic footprint and scale of operations," officials said Thursday.
Enbridge will acquire 492 miles of gas mainlines regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and 298 miles of nonregulated assets, including gathering systems and pipeline laterals.
The mainline units include two pipelines that run from near Laredo and McAllen, Tex., on the Mexican border to Transco Station 30. There they connect with the Williams Transco mainline, which has connections at the Katy hub and continues on to the Southeast and Northeast US markets.
The nonregulated assets include a 130-mile gathering system with a 90 MMcfd capacity sour gas treatment plant and a 78-ton/day sulphur recovery facility; 130 miles of other gathering laterals; an inactive processing plant in Bee County with capacity of 60 MMcfd; and a 38-mile lateral connecting the two FERC-regulated mainlines.
Closing is subject to regulatory approval, including approval by FERC to remove the mainlines from its jurisdiction under the Natural Gas Act.
The deal is the first to be completed by Enbridge's recently created Transportation Group South, based in Houston. That unit has overall responsibility for Enbridge's US business activities.
Another subsidiary, Enbridge Midcoast Energy Inc., will own and operate the facilities acquired from Williams.
The acquisition "enhances our position in the active Gulf Coast region. In addition to its strategic value, we expect the acquisition to be immediately accretive to Enbridge earnings and to have potential for future expansion," said Dan C. Tutcher, vice-president of t Transportation Group South.
Enbridge operates the world's longest oil and liquids pipeline system in Canada and the US.