El Paso Corp. unit seeks FERC approval to expand proposed Cheyenne Plains gas line

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Sept. 22 -- Cheyenne Plains Gas Pipeline Co., a unit of Houston-based El Paso Corp., has applied for approval from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to increase to 36-in. an earlier proposed 30-in. natural gas pipeline spanning from the Rocky Mountains to Kansas.

The El Paso Corp. unit applied earlier this year for FERC approval to construct and operate the 380 mile interstate line, which would extend from the Cheyenne Hub south of Cheyenne, Wyo., to Greensburg, Kan. (OGJ Online, May 28, 2003).

"The plan to increase the [diameter] of the pipeline is due to significant customer response to an additional open season following the Cheyenne Plains FERC application," Cheyenne Plains said. If the expansion is approved, the newly proposed line would have an initial capacity of 560 MMcfd of gas and could be increased to 730 MMcfd within 1 year of being in service.

The project is backed by 560 MMcfd of firm gas contracts with terms of 10 years or longer from 14 shippers, Cheyenne Plains said, adding that the project has additional 10-year contractual commitments supporting the expansion of as much as 730 MMcfd of gas.

The expansion proposal will hike the cost of the pipeline's construction to $425 million from the original $332 million proposed for the smaller-diameter line.

The expanded diameter pipeline proposal "will allow the pipeline to expand competitively with incremental compression up to a potential capacity of 1.7 bcfd," noted Patricia A. Shelton, president of El Paso Corp.'s Western Pipeline Group. "We feel that Cheyenne Plains will be ready to add capacity to markets in the [US] Midwest, with minimum environmental and landowner impact, as new supply develops in the Rockies."

It is not expected that the change in the new line's diameter will alter the planned date of operation, Shelton said, which is slated for early 2005.