trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/nykn4jexzpzxsisfh380eg2 content esgSubNav
In This List

WBI Energy plan to abandon Wyo. gas storage field clears review

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 49: Carbon reduction in cloud

Blog

Using ESG Analysis to Support a Sustainable Future

Research

US utility commissioners: Who they are and how they impact regulation

Blog

Q&A: Datacenters: Energy Hogs or Sustainability Helpers?


WBI Energy plan to abandon Wyo. gas storage field clears review

Staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found that a WBI Energy Transmission Inc. project to remove natural gas from a Wyoming natural gas storage field and then shut it down would provide operational and environmental benefits with minimal environmental impact.

In a Feb. 2 environmental assessment, the staff of the FERC Office of Energy Projects found the project would result in small, short-term impacts to the environment, "but would result in the net gain of rangeland in the project area [in Johnson County, Wyo.] in the long-term" and would also solve the problem of the "increasing unreliability of the storage field."

In the application for the project, known as the Billy Creek storage field abandonment project, WBI Energy asked for authorization to abandon the storage field, the Billy Creek compressor station and related facilities. The facilities would be abandoned in place or through removal. The company also asked for authorization to recover and sell the field's cushion gas, an estimated 2.3 Bcf of natural gas, and a certificate to build and modify facilities to accomplish the withdrawal of gas before the field is shut down for good.

WBI Energy, an MDU Resources Group Inc. company, told FERC the storage field has become unreliable in recent years. Water has penetrated the field and made it useless for providing firm gas storage service. The firm service that used to be provided by the field is now provided by another WBI Energy field. (FERC docket CP17-469)

In June 2012, a WBI Energy predecessor company was already preparing for the abandonment of the Billy Creek storage field, asking FERC for authorizations that would let it prepare other storage options. (FERC docket CP12-472)