Natural-gas producers in northeastern Texas have refused to provide gas for a proposed El Paso Corp. pipeline, killing plans for a line that would have carried Rocky Mountain gas.
Houston-based El Paso planned to build about 700 miles of pipeline, called the Continental Connector, to carry gas from Kansas to Louisiana.
The gas from Colorado and Wyoming fields would be transported to southern Kansas via a series of existing pipelines. The line was proposed to serve markets in the South, East and Midwest.
Some Oklahoma gas producers agreed to pump gas through the line. But operators in the Barnett Shale basin in Texas have told El Paso they will not participate, said Bruce Connery, El Paso vice president of investor and public relations.
The project, which was expected to cost as much as $1 billion, wouldn’t be economically feasible without the Barnett Shale producers’ participation, Connery said.
The producers have decided instead to provide gas for a pipeline planned by another company, Connery said. He said he doesn’t know details of the competing proposal.
“We have been in discussion with producers, and it has been clear that there are competing options. How many and who they are isn’t clear. We put forth a proposal, and it didn’t prevail,” Connery said.
Rocky Mountain states are forecast to become the largest source of gas in the U.S. this year, according to a U.S. Energy Department report.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
