Chevron and Samedan Oil select Williams to gather Alabama gas

Chevron USA and Samedan Oil have selected units of Williams to gather, process and transport up to 115 mm cfpd of natural gas from offshore wells along the Alabama coast.
The production is located in 12 blocks of the Carbonate Trend development that lies just south of Mobile Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. Williams will connect the gas production to its infrastructure by installing 33 miles of new offshore pipeline. Initial volumes are expected in September 2000.
The agreements come less than 60 days after Williams received a volume commitment of approximately 75 mm cfpd from Vastar Resources and Newfield Exploration who are jointly developing reserves off the Alabama coast. According to Alan Armstrong, vice president of gathering and processing in Williams' midstream unit, the new contracts are the result of Williams' investments in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Armstrong said, "Williams recently added transportation capacity in Mobile Bay and a new processing plant in Coden, Alabama. The volumesfrom Chevron and Samedan are examples of the success producers are seeing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
The reserves in this area provide significant deliveries into our facilities and bodes well for the Buccaneer Pipeline project that is under consideration by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission." The Buccaneer Gas Pipeline project, a joint development between Duke Energy and Williams, is designed to transport natural gas from processing plants near Alabama's Mobile Bay to Florida. The 674-mile project was filed with the FERC Oct. 28, 1999, and received its preliminary determination April 25, 2000.

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