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2000 News Releases
Date: November 30, 2000
Gulfstream
Natural Gas System Signs Purchase Agreement with Florida Pipe
Supplier
Detroit — The Coastal
Corporation today announced that its Gulfstream Natural Gas
System, L.L.C., has signed a $310 million purchase agreement
with Berg Steel Pipe Corporation, of Panama City, Fla.,
providing for Berg to manufacture and deliver most of the steel
pipe needed to build the Gulfstream Natural Gas System.
This purchase agreement covers
all of the 36-inch diameter pipe requirement for the offshore
section of Gulfstream as well as the entirety of the 36- and
30-inch diameter pipe that will be used to construct the onshore
segment in Florida. Berg, a wholly owned subsidiary of Europipe
GmbH (Ratingen, Germany), was previously selected on the basis
of a competitive bidding process.
Production will begin
immediately. The pipe will be delivered to Port Manatee, Fla.,
and Mobile, Ala., starting early in 2001. All of the pipe will
be delivered by September 2001 and will exceed U.S. Department
of Transportation safety standards.
"The signing of this
purchase agreement with Berg represents a major milestone in the
development of the Gulfstream Natural Gas System and keeps the
project on track for meeting its targeted in-service date of
June 2002," said David A. Arledge, chairman and chief
executive officer of The Coastal Corporation. "In addition,
our selection of a competitive Florida supplier brings
substantial economic benefits to the state as well."
The proposed 744-mile Gulfstream
Natural Gas System will originate near Mobile, Ala., and cross
the Gulf of Mexico to Manatee County, Fla. In Florida, 292 miles
of main line and laterals, ranging in diameter from 36 inches to
16 inches, are planned to deliver environmentally preferred
natural gas to fuel new electric-generation capacity throughout
the state.
The main line terminates in Palm
Beach County, near Florida’s East Coast. Gulfstream will
transport to Florida up to 1.13 billion cubic feet per day of
natural gas from sources in Alabama and Mississippi. This will
help ensure that there is an adequate supply of clean, dry
natural gas to meet Florida’s growing energy needs.
Ten nonaffiliated utility and
power-production customers have made long-term, binding
commitments for the majority of the capacity on the system.
In October 1999, Gulfstream filed
an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
to build and operate the $1.6 billion natural gas delivery
system. FERC subsequently conducted a series of environmental
scoping meetings and currently is preparing an environmental
impact statement for the project.
Additional information about the
Gulfstream Natural Gas System is available by calling
1-888-GAS-4-FLA (1-888-427-4352).
On Nov. 17, 2000, subsidiaries of
Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) and Williams (NYSE:WMB) announced their
intent to jointly purchase Coastal’s 100 percent interest in
Gulfstream. The Gulfstream purchase, expected to be finalized
during the fourth quarter 2000, is subject to federal regulatory
approvals and conditioned upon completion of the Coastal/El Paso
Energy Corporation merger.
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