Northwest Pipeline Corporation Gearing Up for a New Natural Gas Pipeline Expansion

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Northwest Pipeline Corporation (Houston Texas) is fast approaching the construction start up of the Rockies Expansion Project. Northwest expects to begin construction on the $154 million project in spring of 2003 and when completed on November 1, 2003 system capacity will increase by an estimated 175 mmcsfd of natural gas.

Click on image at right to view the Rockies Expansion Project Detail Tables

The capacity expansion will be achieved by constructing 91 miles of new 30" & 24" diameter transmission pipeline in six separate loops and increasing system compression by an additional 25,000 horsepower spread over seven existing compressor stations. The increase in horsepower will be a combination of new solar turbine unit additions, compressor reconfigurations and horsepower up-rating of existing units. The Rockies Expansion project will reduce Northwest's reliance on displacement gas flow for the Stanfield Oregon to Green River Wyoming corridor. Currently Northwest relies on a contract requirement to send gas south through Kemmerer, Wyoming to provide displacement of 144 mmscfd. This contract expires on November 1, 2003. The 175 mmscfd of new capacity the Rockies Expansion Project will introduce will offset the existing contract requirements.

Northwest pipeline will also at the same time begin construction on the Evergreen Expansion project which involves the expansion of nine existing compressor stations adding 88,190 horsepower of new compression and four new pipeline loops totaling over 28 miles of mainline. Construction on the Evergreen is phased over two years with completion in late 2004.

Northwest Pipeline Corporation is a subsidiary of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) (Tulsa Oklahoma) and operates over 3,900 miles of natural gas transmission pipeline with 43 compressor stations and a capacity of 2.9 Bcf/d of natural gas with 11.43 Bcf of seasonal storage.

IIR has been tracking the progress of the Rockies Expansion Project since April of 2001.