US FERC approves Florida Gas $2.45 bln expansion
NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday approved Florida Gas Transmission's $2.45 billion Phase VIII expansion project to serve natural gas-fired electric generators and utilities in Florida.
FGT, a subsidiary of Citrus Corp, operates a 5,000-mile natural gas pipeline system extending from south Texas to south Florida, transporting approximately 2.2 billion cubic feet per day of supply.
Citrus Corp is 50 percent owned by Southern Union Co (SUG.N) and 50 percent owned by El Paso Corp (EP.N).
In authorizing the project, FERC imposed 43 conditions requiring FGT to mitigate any potential adverse environmental impacts identified by FERC staff after its thorough analysis of the proposal, the agency said in a statement.
The Phase VIII expansion will add more than 483 miles of pipeline loops, laterals and mainline and install 213,600 horsepower of compression at eight existing and one new compressor stations.
It will also create 820,000 million British thermal units per day of capacity on FGT's system from Alabama to Florida.
The company also will acquire the existing 22.7-mile Martin lateral, currently owned by Florida Power & Light Co (FPL.N), that will serve power plants located in Manatee, Martin, Miami-Dade, and Suwannee Counties.
FGT is slated to initiate service in two phases, with the first phase scheduled to begin service by July 1, 2010, involving construction and operation of the Manatee lateral and the FPL Manatee metering and regulating station to serve FPL's Manatee power plant in Florida.
Phase 2 service is scheduled to start by April 1, 2011. It involves construction and operation of the remaining Phase VIII expansion project facilities.
In addition to providing service to FPL, FGT proposes to transport gas to five other shippers: Florida Power Corp/Progress Energy Florida, Inc (PGN.N), Seminole Electric Cooperative, Inc, Tampa Electric Co (TE.N), the Orlando Utilities Commission, and the City of Tallahassee. (Reporting by Eileen Moustakis)
