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2001 News Releases
Date: May 31, 2001
Gulfstream
Natural Gas System Breaks Ground
HOUSTON — Gulfstream Natural
Gas System, L.L.C. today celebrated the initial construction
activities of the 753-mile pipeline at a ground breaking
ceremony at Port Manatee, Fla. The event commemorated the start
of an intensive 12-month construction process required to
provide a new supply of natural gas transportation capacity to
Florida by June 2002.
Once complete, the $1.6 billion
Gulfstream system will be the largest pipeline in the Gulf of
Mexico, with capacity to transport approximately 1.1 billion
cubic feet of natural gas per day from Mississippi and Alabama
to Florida. It is also the first new natural gas transportation
system to serve Florida in more than 40 years.
"During the past two years,
the Gulfstream team has invested hundreds of thousands of hours
planning and preparing to construct this pipeline," said
Nancy Schultz, Gulfstream senior vice president and general
manager, technical functions. "This is the largest pipeline
project underway in North America. This vital transportation
system, so many years in the making, is on its way to becoming a
reality."
"This is an important day in
helping ensure Florida’s energy future for years to
come," said Guy Buckley, Gulfstream senior vice president
and general manager, business functions. "By adding this
new pipeline capacity from proven natural gas reserves in the
Gulf of Mexico, Gulfstream will provide enough fuel to create
electricity for an additional 4.5 million Florida homes. We look
forward to helping Florida meet its energy challenges in an
environmentally-friendly and cost effective manner for many
years to come."
Preparation for pipe laying has
been ongoing for the past two months and will continue through
June. Offshore pipe laying is scheduled to begin in early July.
The construction vessels used to place the offshore pipe can lay
up to four miles of pipe each day.
Onshore pipe laying is on
schedule to begin in mid-July in Polk County, Fla. In
preparation for construction, more than 93 miles of pipe
weighing in excess of 188,000 tons has been shipped from pipe
mills in Florida, France and Germany to pipeyards in Alabama and
Florida.
Gulfstream Natural Gas System, L.L.C. is a joint interstate
natural gas pipeline development of Williams (NYSE:WMB) and Duke
Energy (NYSE:DUK) approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission Feb. 22, 2001. The 753-mile pipeline project will
extend from Mississippi and Alabama across the Gulf of Mexico to
Florida. It is designed primarily to serve Florida utilities and
power-generation facilities that will use high-efficiency
natural gas turbines to meet the increasing demand for electric
energy.
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