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As production from the Barnett Shale formation and other unconventional gas sources ramps up to meet rising demand, pipeline operators are making plans for new capacity to deliver the gas to growing markets. As part of this response, Enbridge Energy Partners and Atmos Pipeline and Storage report plans to conduct a solicitation of interest for firm transportation service on a proposed new natural gas pipeline in Texas called the Barnett Intrastate Gas (“BIG”) pipeline.

The new pipeline would connect Atmos Energy’s Line X in Johnson County, Texas, to Enbridge’s Double D and Clarity pipelines at Bethel in Anderson County, Texas. The new pipeline would bridge the two companies’ systems, and would provide shippers more access to natural gas supplies from the Waha, Barnett Shale, Bossier Sands and Anadarko basin producing regions. Delivery points would include multiple market options at the Enbridge Carthage hub in Panola County, Texas, and the Enbridge Southeast Texas hub in Orange County with interconnections to a number of pipeline systems. At the Carthage hub, the new line would interconnect with the NGPL, Texas Gas, Gulf South, Tennessee Gas, CenterPoint Energy and TETCO pipeline systems. At the Southeast Texas hub, the new line would interconnect with the NGPL, Kinder Morgan (Tejas), Kinder Morgan (Texas), Trunkline, Florida Gas and Entergy systems.

Terrance L. McGill, president of Enbridge Energy Company, Inc., the general partner of Enbridge Energy Partners, notes that as more and more drilling occurs in the prolific Barnett Shale of North Texas, the new 100-mi natural gas transmission pipeline – which will have a capacity of up to 1 Bcfd – will help Enbridge and Atmos Energy avoid constraints on their respective systems, and increase reliable supplies of natural gas.

In addition, Enterprise Products Partners says it has signed new long-term agreements with major producers in the Barnett Shale region that will utilize approximately 900 MMcfd of capacity on the partnership’s 1.1 Bcfd Sherman Extension natural gas pipeline. The partnership also announced that it will construct a new pipeline that will transport new supplies of natural gas produced from the Barnett Shale in Tarrant and Denton Counties, Texas, to the Sherman Extension pipeline.

The 178-mi Sherman Extension is a major expansion of Enterprise’s Texas intrastate natural gas pipeline system that provides additional transportation capacity for production from the Barnett Shale and North Texas region. The Sherman Extension will run from an interconnect with a major pipeline segment of Enterprise’s Texas intrastate system in Erath County, Texas, to Grayson County, Texas, where it will connect to the Gulf Crossing interstate pipeline. The Sherman Extension is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008.

To accommodate growing natural gas production from the Barnett Shale, Enterprise will build a new 40-mi supply lateral that will extend from the Trinity River basin north of Arlington to an interconnect with the Sherman Extension pipeline near Justin, Texas. This new system will consist of 30 and 36-in. pipe designed to provide up to 1 Bcfd of natural gas takeaway capacity for producers in Tarrant and Denton counties. This new pipeline will also have a lateral to provide transportation services for natural gas produced from the Newark East field in Wise County. These new pipelines are expected to be in service in the third quarter of 2009.

Elsewhere, DCP Midstream and M2 Midstream say they have signed an agreement to pursue development of a new large-diameter natural gas pipeline to move gas from the emerging Haynesville Shale play in North Louisiana. As an extension of DCP’s Pelico Intrastate Pipeline, the new pipeline, named the Haynesville Connector, would originate in western DeSoto Parish and extend over 150 miles to Delhi, Louisiana, providing access to takeaway pipelines in the Delhi area such as the Southeast Supply Header (SESH), Columbia Gulf Transmission, ANR Pipeline, Trunkline Gas Company, Texas Gas Transmission, Tennessee Gas, Centerpoint Energy and Gulf South Pipeline. If built, the Haynesville Connector is expected to commence initial deliveries in the third quarter of 2009 and would offer an estimated 1.5 Bcfd of takeaway capacity by early 2010 to help meet producers’ anticipated needs for pipeline infrastructure in the Haynesville Shale.

And, there are additional shale gas-related pipeline projects coming down the pike. National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. is currently gauging market interest in capacity in the Appalachian corridor in southwestern and central Pennsylvania. This proposed project would provide transportation and storage services to Northeast market interconnects including Ellisburg, Leidy and Corning. The open season features a newly proposed pipeline system, the Appalachian Lateral, which would provide interstate pipeline infrastructure to move gas supplies produced from the Marcellus Shale and other Appalachian producing horizons to growing Northeast markets. The open season will also provide shippers the opportunity to access incremental storage capacity of 8.5 Bcf via National Fuel’s planned expansion of certain of its existing fields. The storage capacity will be offered in a complementary open season in the near future.

Bruce Beaubouef, Ph.D., Editor, PipeLine & Gas Technology, a Hart Energy Publishing, LP publication.