FLORIDA GAS EYES BIG EXPANSION PROJECT

Florida Gas Transmission Co. last week disclosed possible plans for a big expansion of its 4,464 mile South Texas-Miami system. The system currently delivers 825 MMcfd of gas to Florida. An expansion under construction will boost that volume to 925 MMcfd by yearend. The latest plan could almost double capacity to 1.8 bcfd at a cost of $750 million.

Sept. 16, 1991

2 min read

Florida Gas Transmission Co. last week disclosed possible plans for a big expansion of its 4,464 mile South Texas-Miami system.

The system currently delivers 825 MMcfd of gas to Florida. An expansion under construction will boost that volume to 925 MMcfd by yearend. The latest plan could almost double capacity to 1.8 bcfd at a cost of $750 million.

"Based on initial discussions with existing and potential customers and our analysis of their projected demand, we are considering expansion of the Florida Gas system by 875 MMcfd," said William V. Allison, president of Florida Gas and parent Citrus Corp.

Citrus is a joint venture of Enron Corp. and Sonat Inc. Enron operates Florida Gas.

"While we believe 875 MMcfd is a realistic design level at this time, we can tailor the expansion to accommodate demand levels above or below the 875 MMcfd level as appropriate," Allison said.

"We will now finalize firm service agreements with our customers. Based on those discussions, we plan to file before yearend with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval to construct the project."

Preliminary engineering estimates show the new expansion project will involve:

Adding about 800 miles of line, more than 700 miles of which will b,:, main line. From Louisiana to South Florida, the existing system is two parallel interconnected lines, one 24 in., the other 30 in. About 440 miles of the new main line will be a 36 in. loop from Texas through Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and on into Florida.
Adding a new west leg of the pipeline that will run generally south from the present main line in Florida near the Columbia-Suwannee county line and extend to the existing St. Petersburg lateral northwest of Plant City. The exact route of this new 30 in. line hasn't been determined.
Building two compressor stations and expanding existing stations to add more than 120,000 hp to the mainline system. In addition, there would be new lateral pipelines, new meter and regulator stations, and additional communications and control equipment.