Kern River Gas Transmission Co., the biggest gas pipeline built in the U.S. in the last decade, has been commissioned.
The system was dedicated Mar. 6 at a meter station in an oil field near Bakersfield, Calif.
The $994 million, 904 mile pipeline is a 50-50 venture of Tenneco Inc. and Williams Cos. (see map, OGJ, May 6, 1985, p. 84).
Planning for the project began about 7 years ago.
Current operating capacity of the line is 700 MMcfd. Plans call for boosting capacity by 452 MMcfd with added compression. Most of the gas will go to thermal enhanced oil recovery projects in heavy oil fields in California. Other customers include utilities, independent electrical power producers, and cogeneration projects.
SCOPE OF PROJECT
Kern River is the largest U.S. gas pipeline project to get under way since the 1981 groundbreaking of Northern Border Pipeline. The biggest U.S. pipeline built during the same period was the 1,225 mile All-American crude oil pipeline constructed by a unit of Goodyear Corp.
While preparation included 6 years of planning and permitting efforts and more than 500,000 hr of engineering, construction was completed in less than a year.
Since groundbreaking Jan. 2, 1991, a construction force of almost 3,000 worked more than 4.5 million hr moving 13 million cu yd of dirt, pouring 10,000 cu vd of concrete, and making 55,000 welds. Every weld was inspected visually and with x-rays that required 83 miles of x-ray film.
Kern River bought materials totaling more than $300 million from U.S. manufacturers, including 360,000 tons of steel pipe, gas turbine compressors, and 49 main line valves. The system has compressors at three main line stations rated at a combined 50,000 hp.
The company hired about 200 biologists, archaeologists, and paleontologists to protect wildlife and plants and preserve fossils and artifacts. About $75 million of the project's cost went for wildlife and plant protection, protection of cultural resources, and restoration of the construction area. Construction related spending in Utah alone was about $232 million.
Kern River will pay $5.8 million/year to Utah for property taxes, $3 million/year in California, $1.8 million/year in Nevada, and $760,000/year in Wyoming.
The pipeline company will permanently employ 92 persons.
MARKET FOCUS
About 60% of the pipeline's capacity will be used for EOR projects in California.
"I believe one of the major keys to our success was that we staved very focused all along on the enhanced oil recovery market as our anchor customer base," said Cuba Wadlington Jr., Kern River executive vice-president.
Part of the remaining capacity will accommodate small communities along the pipeline route, some of which will have access to natural gas for the first time. Kern River partners noted that in other communities the pipeline will boost competition in gas markets.
Kern River is California's only direct link to Rocky Mountain gas reserves. It also could bring in Canadian supplies if a companion project headed by Tenneco, Altamont Gas Transmission Co., is built from Alberta to Southwest Wyoming (OGJ, Dec. 9, 1991, p. 74). Officials noted the Kern River pipeline will not only diversify California sources of gas supplies but will open new markets to producers.
One of Kern River's customers is the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which said the pipeline will give it supply flexibility and allow its four generating plants to burn gas instead of fuel oil.
Kern River's other customers are Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Union Pacific Fuels Inc., Shell Western Exploration & Production Inc., Mobil Natural Gas Inc., Amoco Energy Trading Corp. (OGJ, Mar. 9, p. 32), Petro-Canada Hydrocarbons Inc., Canadian Hydrocarbons Marketing (U.S.) Inc., Can-West Gas Supply U.S.A. Inc., Salmon Resources Inc., Southwest Gas Corp., Nevada Cogeneration Associates, and M.H. Whittier Corp.
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