TULSA, Okla., Nov 27, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- ONEOK Partners, L.P. (NYSE: OKS) announced today the completion of the first phase of an expansion project that will ultimately double the gathering pipeline capacity of Fort Union Gas Gathering, L.L.C. by adding approximately 150 miles of new gathering lines and approximately 650 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of additional capacity. ONEOK Partners' subsidiary, Crestone Powder River, L.L.C., has a 37.04 percent interest in Fort Union Gas Gathering.
The first phase of the project was placed in service Nov. 14, 2007, and has added more than 200 MMcf/d of additional capacity. The second phase, now scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2008, will bring on the additional 450 MMcf/d of capacity. The new capacity has been fully subscribed for 10 years, beginning with the in-service date of the expansion. The entire project will cost approximately $110 million and is being project-financed by Fort Union Gas Gathering.
The Fort Union Gas Gathering system is located in the Powder River Basin and gathers coal bed methane gas from wells in northeast Wyoming, including the Big George coals. When the expansion project is complete, the Fort Union Gas Gathering system will have a capacity of approximately 1.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), consisting of three 24-inch gathering pipelines running side by side for 106 miles, making it the largest capacity gathering system in the Powder River Basin.
The coal bed methane gas on the Fort Union system requires treating to remove carbon dioxide from the gas stream to meet interstate pipeline gas-quality specifications. Fort Union has recently tripled the treating capacity of its Medicine Bow gas treating facility at the southern terminus of the Fort Union system.
The Fort Union Gas Gathering system, after treating the natural gas for carbon dioxide, delivers the processed natural gas into multiple interstate pipelines including the Wyoming Interstate (WIC) Medicine Bow, Colorado Interstate Gas (CIG) and Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission (KMIGT).
Fort Union Gas Gathering, L.L.C. is owned by: managing member Copano Energy, L.L.C., with a 37.04 percent interest; administrative manager Crestone Powder River, L.L.C., a subsidiary of ONEOK Partners, with a 37.04 percent interest; Western Gas Wyoming, L.L.C., an Anadarko company, with a 14.81 percent interest; and Bargath Inc., one of the Williams Companies, with an 11.11 percent interest. Western Gas Resources, Inc., also an Anadarko company and the field operator of Fort Union, is responsible for the construction.
View map (http://www.oneok.com/media/FtUnionGG_Extension.pdf) showing extension.
ONEOK Partners, L.P. (NYSE: OKS) is one of the largest publicly traded limited partnerships, and is a leader in the gathering, processing, storage and transportation of natural gas in the U.S. and owns one of the nation's premier natural gas liquids (NGL) systems, connecting much of the natural gas and NGL supply in the Mid-Continent with key market centers. Our general partner is a wholly owned subsidiary of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE: OKE), a diversified energy company, which owns 45.7 percent of the overall partnership interest. ONEOK is one of the largest natural gas distributors in the United States, and its energy services operation focuses primarily on marketing natural gas and related services throughout the U.S. For more information, visit the Web sites at http://www.oneokpartners.com or http://www.oneok.com.
Analyst Contact: Christy Williamson 918-588-7163 Media Contact: Tom Droege 918-588-7561
OKS-PP
SOURCE ONEOK Partners, L.P.
http://www.oneok.com