Construction Continues on Bobcat Gas Storage Project in Louisiana

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Port Barre Investments LLC (Houston, Texas) is continuing with construction of its Bobcat gas storage project in Port Barre, Louisiana. Port Barre Investments LLC is 50% owned by GE Energy Financial Services (Stamford, Connecticut), a unit of General Electric (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut), and 50% Port Barre Holdings LLC, which in turn is 99% owned by Haddington Energy Partners III LP and 1% by Bobcat management. The project is expected to cost approximately $333 million, which is slightly higher than previous estimates because of increases in labor and materials cost, labor constraints, and unforeseen technical issues.

Bobcat Gas Storage will ultimately provide 15.6 billion cubic feet (bcf) of working gas capacity when both of the 7.8-bcf caverns are placed into service at the 83.57-acre site. Cavern 1 is expected to come online in the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2008. When it comes online, it will not be operating at the full 7.8 bcf as planned but at 32% less around 5.3 bcf. The reduction in capacity is due to salt falls from the roof of the cavern. The cavern has been inspected by a third party and the results indicate that the cavern is stable and suitable for high-cycle natural gas storage, with sufficient remaining ceiling thickness. Bobcat Gas Storage plans to solution mine Cavern 1 to its full capacity by the end of 2009. Cavern 2 is currently being leached to store 7.8 bcf of working gas and it is expected to begin service in June 2009.

Construction is continuing on the surface facilities, including the compressor station and the five interstate pipeline meter stations and tie-ins to existing meter stations. The compressor stations will contain eight Caterpillar 4,700-horsepower 3616 engine driven compressor packages. The compressor station will allow for the injection of up to 900,000 million cubic feet of natural gas daily and withdraw or deliver 1.2 million cubic feet per day to the market.

Bobcat Gas Storage will be connected to six pipeline systems utilizing three pipeline corridors made of 12-, 16-, 20- and 24-inch diameter pipeline totaling approximately 20 miles in length. The 9.3-mile long, 20-inch diameter North Pipeline Corridor will connect to the Texas Eastern Transmission L.P and Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company and the Cypress Pipeline pipeline systems and 2.12 miles of 16-inch pipeline will connect to the brine disposal site. The North Corridor will have one intrastate and two interstate meter stations. The 4.21-mile, 24-inch South Pipeline Corridor will lead to the Florida Gas Transmission and ANR Pipeline pipeline systems through two interstate meter stations. The 2.77-mile, 24-inch West Pipeline Corridor will provide a link to Gulf South Pipeline System utilizing one interstate meter station.

Bobcat Gas Storage LLC is utilizing the services of Rooney Engineering Incorporated (Englewood, Colorado) for design and engineering services and the Natural Resource Group (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) for environmental engineering and inspection. As far as construction needs, Sunland Construction Incorporated (Eunice, Louisiana) was awarded the general construction contract for the leaching plant and compressor station, and the Shreveport, Louisiana, office of Grey Wolf Incorporated (Houston) is handling the well drilling. There are two 170-feet-deep freshwater wells, the 5,500-feet-deep cavern storage wells and three 6,000-feet-deep brine disposal wells. Buffalo Gap Instrumentation and Electrical (Buffalo Gap, Texas) is providing electrical and instrumentation services.

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