Kern River places High Desert natural gas lateral on stream

Sept. 13, 2002
Salt Lake City-based Kern River Gas Transmission Co. placed its $29 million High Desert natural gas pipeline lateral in Southern California on stream Aug. 31.

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Sept. 13 -- Salt Lake City-based Kern River Gas Transmission Co. placed its $29 million High Desert natural gas pipeline lateral in Southern California on stream Aug. 31. The 32 mile, 24-in. line will supply as much as 282 MMcfd of gas to the 810 Mw gas-fired power plant being built by High Desert Power Project LLC near Victorville, Calif. Kern River, which is a unit of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., Des Moines, Iowa, received approval to construct the line from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this year (OGJ Online, Apr. 25, 2002).

Construction of the lateral's meter stations began May 27, and pipeline construction started June 17, Kern River stated.

The High Desert lateral is the third major project to be constructed by Kern River to serve California since 2001, the company said. In July 2001, Kern River brought its California Action project on stream and in May 2002, it placed into service its 2002 Expansion Project. The two completed expansion projects brought Kern River's total system capacity to more than 845.5 MMcfd, the company said.

On Aug. 5, Kern River started construction on its largest system-wide expansion, its 2003 expansion project. The $1.2 billion project will increase the pipeline's capacity by 906 MMcfd once placed in service in May 2003, Kern River said.