Plans for gas pipeline construction programs are moving ahead on the U.S.-Canadian East Coast and in the U.S. Rocky Mountains.
Here are the latest developments:
* A group of companies asked the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve first phase construction plans for a jointly owned, U.S.-Canadian pipeline.
Sponsors of the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline project propose to lay a 630 mile system to deliver gas from the Sable Island area off Nova Scotia to customers in southern Maine and New Hampshire. As much as 400 MMcfd could begin flowing on the system by November 1999.
* Wyoming Interstate Company Ltd. (WIC), the Rocky Mountain natural gas partnership of Coastal Corp., Houston, said results of an open season for new transportation capacity were so successful it intends to move forward immediately with system expansion.
Owned by two Coastal subsidiaries, WIC is the central segment of the Trailblazer Pipeline System, an 800 mile line stretching from Southwest Wyoming to Central Nebraska.
Gas projects dominate U.S. and Canadian pipeline plans involving line construction in 1996 and beyond. Current plans call for more than 3,800 miles of gas line to be laid in the U.S. and 2,800 miles in Canada (see table, OGJ, Feb. 5, p. 31).
East Coast
The proposed Maritimes & Northeast pipeline is to cross parts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, and New Hampshire before tying into the U.S. pipeline grid in Massachusetts.
Phase I of the system would enable sponsors to ship as much as 60 MMcfd through a 64 mile, 24 in. line between Dracut, Mass., and Wells, Me.
George Mazanec, vice-chairman of PanEnergy Corp. and chairman of the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline management committee, said Phase I transportation services will increase gas market competition in southern Maine and New Hampshire by boosting access in the region to new supplies and suppliers and cost effective, flexible gas services.
Phase I construction is supported by binding precedent agreements for long term transportation services with Mobil Natural Gas Inc. and PanEnergy Gas Services Inc., both gas marketing companies. Parent companies of the two gas marketing units last month disclosed they had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to combine marketing operations into a new joint venture.
Affiliates of Maritimes & Northeast sponsors PanEnergy Corp., Westcoast Energy Inc., Mobil Oil Corp., and Eastern Enterprises at the end of last month formed Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LLC (Mnpllc) to build and own the U.S. portion of the system.
The group also chose PanEnergy units to manage and operate the pipeline and is developing agreements to cover relationships and responsibilities on the Canadian portion of the system.
PanEnergy and Westcoast each own a 32.5% interest in Mnpllc, Mobil 25%, and Eastern Enterprises 10%. Mobil's interest in the pipeline project includes 10% previously held by Shell Canada Ltd.
PanEnergy, through operating units, is to be responsible for overall development of the pipeline project and directly responsible for the U.S. portion of the system. Westcoast Energy will be responsible for developing the project's Canadian facilities.
Meantime, Sable Island project producers Mobil Oil Canada Properties, Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Imperial Oil Resources Ltd., and Nova Scotia Resources Ltd. continue predevelopment activities on the Scotian Shelf, where Sable Island reserves are estimated at 3 tcf.
Rocky Mountains
"The strong response from producers for expanded transportation capacity out of Wyoming exceeded our expectations," said Jon R. Whitney, president and chief executive officer of WIC general partner CIG Gas Supply Co.
Bids for 812 MMcfd of additional firm capacity on WIC came from 21 shippers by the close of the open season Jan. 31. More than half were at maximum rates for terms of 10 years or greater.
Coastal's Colorado Interstate Gas Co. (CIG) also conducted an open season on its Wind River lateral that ended Feb. 12.
"The specific size of the WIC expansion will be determined in March, at which time all conditions in bids we received are to have been met and we will have finalized the precedent agreements," said Whitney, who also is president and chief executive officer of CIG.
"By early March, the open season on CIG's Wind River Lateral will have been completed, giving us further evidence of the amount of additional capacity that is needed. Nonetheless, it is clear that capacity on WIC will be expanded significantly beyond its current 500 bcfd."
WIC and the downstream Trailblazer segment can be expanded by simply adding compression, Whitney said.
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