Transco seeking necessity certificate to build Gulf Connector

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company filed an application with FERC for a certificate of public convenience and necessity authorizing it to build and operate its Gulf Connector expansion project. 

The project, to be built in two phases, would enable the company to provide 400,000 dekatherms per day of incremental transportation capacity to Cheniere’s Corpus Christi liquefaction project on the U.S. Gulf Coast for a period of 20 years.

Additionally, the project, expanding Transco’s natural gas transmission system in Texas and Louisiana, would provide for 75,000 dt/day of transportation capacity for Osaka Gas to the Freeport LNG terminal for a period of 15 years.

Gulf Connector expansion project will include construction of three new compressor stations, an interconnection with Cheniere Corpus Christi pipeline, and piping and valve modifications at two existing Transco compressor stations to allow for bi-directional gas flow.

It would also interconnect with the Gulf South Pipeline Company’s Coastal Bend Header that will transport natural gas to the Freeport LNG terminal.

Transco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams Partners, estimates that the project facilities will cost approximately US$167.4 million, according to the filing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The company requests FERC to issue an order granting authorizations by no later than July 1, 2017. It also plans to complete the construction of the project and put the first phase in service by September 1, 2018, and the second phase by January 1, 2019, as requested by Osaka Gas and Cheniere, respectively.