Tennessee Gas joins U.S. Northeast gas pipeline fray

• Eastern Express Expansion Project [151648 bytes]

The El Paso Energy Corp. unit plans expansions of two parts of the Tennessee Gas system-from Station 87, near Portland, Tenn.; and from Niagara Falls, N.Y., and an interconnection with Trans- Canada PipeLines Ltd. to the Ellisburg/Leidy storage hub in Pennsylvania.

Project scope

With a proposed in-service date of Nov. 1, 1999, the project will provide incremental transportation service from Chicago and Niagara Falls, as well as from Tennessee's Gulf Coast supply areas to the Ellisburg/Leidy hub via the Tennessee Gas and East Tennessee Natural Gas systems and interconnections with other systems.

Officials said the project will provide a low-cost option to Canadian, Midcontinent, and Gulf Coast shippers to gain access to major gas markets in the U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

An open season will be held Apr. 16-June 16. Tennessee will also have an open season to solicit capacity turnbacks from existing customers in the relevant portions of the system.

Final project design will be based on open season results and execution of precedent agreements.

An open season for the Leidy project, involving transport of gas from Niagara Falls to Leidy, closed Jan. 21, 1997.

What's involved

The expansion would be accomplished principally by adding compression and pipeline looping.

At this time-and subject to the outcome of the open season-Tennessee envisions 117,000 hp of added compression and a total of 116 miles of looping and new pipeline.

Of the total 116 miles, 35 miles of new 24-in. spur pipeline would be laid in Pennsylvania from Tennessee's existing system to the Ellisburg/Leidy hub.

The project will include the transportation services of Midwestern Gas Transmission Co., a Tennessee unit, of as much as 500 MMcfd of gas to be shipped south from existing or planned interconnects with Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America, Northern Border Pipeline Co., and Alliance Pipeline, near Chicago, to Midwestern's interconnect with the Tennessee system at Station 87.

Plans call for shippers to be able to schedule gas across both the Midwestern and Tennessee systems using one nomination in a seamless transaction.

From the Ellisburg/ Leidy hub, shippers can reach markets served by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp., Columbia Gas Transmission Corp., Consolidated Natural Gas Co., National Fuel Gas Co., and Texas Eastern Transmission Corp.

In addition, through Tennessee's interconnections with Consolidated and Columbia and Tennessee's interconnect with East Tennessee Natural Gas, shippers can secure access to expanding markets in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast states.

The West Virginia terminus of Tennessee's interconnection with Columbia and Consolidated is at Broadrun, near Charleston.