The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted permission to Columbia Gulf Transmission LLC for extended hours to build natural gas compressor stations that are part of its 860,000-Dth/d Gulf XPress expansion project.
In a March 14 notice, FERC allowed the company, part of TransCanada Corp.'s Columbia Pipeline Group Inc., to work on four compressor station sites seven days a week until 10 p.m. local time each day.
Columbia Gulf said its request for extended hours was due to a six-month delay in FERC authorization for the approximately $674 million project. In an April 2016 application, Columbia Gulf asked FERC for a certificate order by June 30, 2017. The commission did not approve the project until Dec. 29, 2017.
Gulf XPress is linked to Columbia Gas Transmission LLC's Mountaineer XPress project. Columbia Gulf and Columbia Gas are affiliates in the Columbia Pipeline Group.
The Gulf XPress project will include seven new compressor stations, modifications to another compressor station and an existing meter station. The project, which will be built in Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi, will provide bidirectional compression on its system with the new and modified stations, with new transportation service from an interconnection with Columbia Gas to delivery points on the Columbia Gulf system. (FERC docket CP16-361)
