SEVERAL U.S. GAS PIPELINE PROJECTS ADVANCE

June 18, 1990
A number of gas pipeline projects are on the move in the U.S. Valero Energy Corp., San Antonio, disclosed plans for a 105 mile extension of its partnership's North Texas line, to cost about $58 million. Saginaw Bay Pipeline Co., a unit of MCN Corp., Detroit, broke ground at Kalkaska, Mich., for a 126 mile line to carry Cambro-Ordovician Prairie du Chien production. Oklahoma-Arkansas Pipeline Co., which was joined by Sabine Pipe Line Co., Houston, received 535 MMcfd in precedent contracts

A number of gas pipeline projects are on the move in the U.S.

  • Valero Energy Corp., San Antonio, disclosed plans for a 105 mile extension of its partnership's North Texas line, to cost about $58 million.

  • Saginaw Bay Pipeline Co., a unit of MCN Corp., Detroit, broke ground at Kalkaska, Mich., for a 126 mile line to carry Cambro-Ordovician Prairie du Chien production.

  • Oklahoma-Arkansas Pipeline Co., which was joined by Sabine Pipe Line Co., Houston, received 535 MMcfd in precedent contracts for its proposed 500 MMcfd line from Oklahoma to Mississippi.

  • Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted Mojave Pipeline Co. an optional expedited certificate to lay a 385 mile line from Topock, Ariz., to Kern County, Calif.

The extension to Valero Gas Partners LP's intrastate system will run from Bethel near Dallas, to Carthage, near the Louisiana border, completing Valero's east-west statewide link. It is expected to increase throughput capacity by more than 15%.

The line will have a 350400 MMcfd capacity, expandable to 750-850 MMcfd with increased compression. Valero has signed a contract for 100 MMcfd.

Work on the extension is to start in October, and completion is planned for first quarter 1991.

MICHIGAN PROJECT

Saginaw Bay's $40 million system will begin at Bay City and move gas northwest to Kalkaska. Completion is scheduled for next fall.

Capacity will be more than 135 MMcfd of gas and natural gas liquids for delivery to processing plants in the Kalkaska area.

Saginaw Bay has identified more than 500 bcf of proved reserves and as much as 1.8 tcf of potential reserves in the supply region.

The company is general partner in the project, with limited partnership interests held by Michigan Intrastate Pipeline System and CMS Transmission Co. MCN Corp. is the holding company for Michigan Consolidated Gas Co.

OKLAHOMA-ARKANSAS CONTRACTS

The 535 MMcfd in precendent agreements secured by Oklahoma-Arkansas will be converted to firm contracts once FERC approves the project.

Among the firms requesting firm service are ARCO, Panhandle Eastern Corp., International Paper, National Fuel Gas Co., CMS Energy Corp., and Reliance Pipeline Co.

Sabine Pipe Line, a unit of Texaco Inc., became the seventh partner in the $273 million project, joining units of CMS, International Paper, National Fuel Gas, Panhandle Eastern, Reliance, and Williams Cos. Inc.

The 36 and 30 in. line will move Arkoma basin gas 352 miles from Pittsburg County, Okla., to Tate County, Miss. Partners hope to start laying it in spring 1991 and be on line by the following fall.

Oklahoma-Arkansas, which asked FERC for an optional expedited certificate last year, has begun preconstruction engineering along the route.

MOJAVE APPROVAL

Mojave's acceptance of the optional expedited certificate from FERC marks the final step in the project's 5 year regulatory process.

Mojave, a partnership of Enron Corp. and El Paso Natural Gas Co., hopes to begin laying its 385 mile system from Arizona to heavy oil fields in Kern County, Calif., by early 1991. It is scheduled for service in early 1992.

Mojave reports that it has firm contracts for about 80% of its initial capacity, and about 90 MMcfd remains available.

Under a settlement with Kern River Gas Transmission Co. and Southern California Gas Co., Mojave and Kern River will jointly build the project along parts of their California routes. Kern River's line will begin in Southwest Wyoming and connect with Mojave east of Barstow, Calif.

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