Southern Pines Energy Center is being developed as a FERC-regulated natural gas storage facility. The project site has the capability to develop up to five 10 Bcf caverns for a total working gas capacity of 50 BCF. Currently the project is constructing a 16.0 Bcf multi-cycle natural gas storage facility consisting of two underground storage caverns, each capable of storing up to 8.0 Bcf each. Southern Pines commenced operations in April 2008 with cavern well no.1 and continues leaching on the second cavern well. A third cavern is scheduled to be drilled in 2008 with commercial operation in 2010.
Southern Pines Natural Gas Storage Facility will include:
Three Cavern wells capable of storing 30 BCF in an underground salt-dome (with the capability of constructing two additional caverns for a total of 5 caverns and 50.0 Bcf of storage capacity).
A handling facility with 48,000 horsepower of compression and surface facilities for three storage caverns is under construction and has been designed to provide 3.0 Bcf of maximum daily withdrawal capability and 1.5 Bcf of maximum daily injection capability which will enable Southern Pines to cycle its working gas capacity a maximum of 12 times per year, thus providing its customers with the ultimate flexibility to quickly balance operational flows, meet peaking demands.
Southern Pines will initially have direct interconnects to Destin Pipeline Company (“Destin”), Gulf South, Florida Gas Transmission Company (“FGT”) Z3 mainline and Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corporation (“Transco Mobile Bay Lateral (4a)”) serving markets in the Northeast and Southeast U.S. Each of the interconnections will use bi-directional metering facilities. In addition, the storage facility will provide indirect access to Southern Natural Gas (“Sonat”), Gulf South Pipeline, Gulfstream Natural Gas System (“Gulfstream”) and Tennessee Gas Pipeline (“TGP”) by way of Destin and another new interconnection with Gulfstream via the Mobile Bay Lateral.
The interconnect with the Southeast Supply Header is scheduled for service in Q3 2008.
Gas operations can be scheduled with the Natural Gas Inventory....