AGL Resources’ Golden Triangle Storage has started construction of a 12 billion cu/ft working gas capacity salt dome natural gas storage facility at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas. About 7.5mi of dual 24in OD pipelines and 1.5mi of single 24in line will connect the facility to six interstate and intrastate transmission pipelines: Florida Gas Transmission (downstream of Station 6), Texas Eastern Transmission, Centana Pipeline, Energy Tranfer Co.’s Texoma line, Kinder Morgan Texas, and ExxonMobil’s Golden Pass Pipeline. The storage site will be able to receive onshore, offshore, and LNG deliveries. The project will offer 600MMcfd of deliverable capacity and 300MMcfd of injection capacity, serving local petrochemical facilities and the Houston Ship Channel through the intrastate pipelines as well as markets in the NE, Mid-Atlantic, and SE via the interstate lines. Golden Triangle says the first storage cavern will be ready for operation in 2010 or early 2011, with the second cavern following roughly 2 years later. Capacity can be expanded to as much as 28 billion cu/ft. The company expects a third 6 billion cu/ft cavern to be added shortly after completion of the second. Five brine-disposal caverns are also being drilled on Golden Triangle’s site.
