Tres Palacios Gas Storage LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Westport, CT based NGS Energy LP announces the successful completion of Mechanical Integrity Testing (MIT) on its first of three natural gas storage caverns in Matagorda County, Texas.
Facility construction has been underway since November 2007 when the Project received the necessary regulatory approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Mechanical Integrity Test is a critical milestone for the project and is the penultimate step prior to placing the cavern into operation. The final step, which the company will seek this week, requires the FERC Authorization to Place Facilities in Service. This final approval, expected by the end of July, will enable Tres Palacios to begin cavern dewatering immediately upon authorization and commence firm storage operations on September 1, 2008.
“We are thrilled by the MIT results and are very excited to be one step closer to commercial operations," said Laura Luce, President of NGS and Tres Palacios, "The entire team has remained focused and diligent every step of the way with impeccable execution. We have built a world class, fully automated and flexible facility-the first of its kind - to provide much needed services to the Texas and U.S. natural gas market.”
Tres Palacios will be interconnected with 10 interstate and intrastate pipelines, including: Florida Gas, Transco (near Sta 30), Tennessee, NGPL, CTGS (Transco/Tennessee), HPL, TETCO, Enterprise Texas, Enterprise Texas Intrastate and Kinder Morgan Tejas. The Project has been authorized to inject up to 1 BCF/d and withdrawal up to 2.5 BCF/d and when all three caverns are placed into service will offer 36 BCF of working gas capacity to storage customers.
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