Font ResizeA subsidiary of Questar Pipeline Co. is seeking federal approval for a natural gas pipeline across a stretch of southwest Wyoming that would tie into another pipeline destined to serve West Coast consumers.
Questar Overthrust Pipeline Co. wants to construct a line that would run 43 miles from a compressor station near Rock Springs west to Blacks Fork, Wyo., southeast of Opal, spokesman Steve Chapman said Friday.
The 36-inch pipeline would run alongside Interstate 80 for most of the way. It would parallel an existing Questar pipeline running from Wamsutter to Blacks Fork and on to Opal.
The new pipeline would feed natural gas into a line that Houston-based El Paso Corp. hopes to build to serve northern California. The so-called Ruby pipeline would start in Opal, cross northern Utah and Nevada and terminate in Malin, Ore., There, it would connect with lines extending into California.
"California is a real large natural gas market. This pipeline that El Paso is building -- they have commitments for approximately 1.1 billion cubic feet per day," said Shelley Wright, director of business development for Salt Lake City-based Questar Pipeline.
If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves Questar's application, construction could start next summer. The line could be ready in March 2011.
The price tag of the pipeline is $94.3 million. It would have a capacity of 800 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, enough to meet
Most of the natural gas that flows through would belong to Wyoming Interstate Co., which has bought rights to move up to 548.5 million cubic feet through the pipeline per day. The rest of the capacity could be sold to other gas companies.
Wyoming Interstate is owned by El Paso Pipeline Partners. El Paso Corp. owns 65 percent of El Paso Pipeline.
Chapman said natural gas from fields in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming will supply the new line.
Until recently, most of the gas originating in the region has been pumped to markets in the East and Midwest. Because California is trying to diversify its sources of natural gas, that's changing, Wright said.
