Onshore Natural Gas Pipelines
We own or have interests in approximately 17,200 miles of onshore natural gas pipeline systems that provide for the gathering and transmission of natural gas in Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. Our onshore natural gas pipeline systems provide for the gathering and transmission of natural gas from onshore developments, such as the San Juan and Permian supply basins, or from offshore developments in the Gulf of Mexico, through connections with offshore pipelines. Typically, these systems receive natural gas from producers, other pipelines or shippers through system interconnects and redeliver the natural gas to processing facilities, local gas distribution companies, industrial customers or to other onshore pipelines.
Generally, revenue is generated on these systems based on a fee per unit of volume (typically in MMBtus) gathered or transported. Natural gas pipelines (such as our Acadian Gas and Alabama Intrastate systems) may also gather and purchase natural gas from producers and suppliers and resell such natural gas to customers such as electric utility companies, local natural gas distribution companies and industrial customers. As a result, these pipelines are exposed to commodity price risk to the extent they take title to natural gas volumes through certain of their contracts. Additionally, our San Juan Gathering and Permian Basin pipeline systems provide aggregating and bundling services, in which we purchase and resell natural gas for certain small producers. Also, several of our gathering systems, while not providing marketing services, have some exposure to risks related to commodity prices through transportation arrangements with shippers.
Enterprise's 8,222-mile Texas Intrastate System gathers and transports natural gas from supply basins in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico to local gas distribution companies, electric generation facilities and industrial customers. This system serves key natural gas markets in Texas, including the San Antonio/Austin area and the large industrial markets in the Houston Ship Channel, Beaumont/Orange and Corpus Christi areas. The Texas Intrastate System consists of the Texas Intrastate natural gas gathering system, the TPC Offshore natural gas gathering system and the Channel pipeline.
To serve demand growth in central Texas, we are developing a project to increase our pipeline capacity by 120 MMcf/d to deliver natural gas supplies from the Waha Hub in west Texas. We also invested $74.5 million in the first quarter of 2005 to expand our footprint in the producing areas of east Texas by acquiring interests in the Indian Springs natural gas gathering system and processing facilities. With interconnects to all of the major producing regions, end-user markets and pipeline hubs, our Texas onshore natural gas pipeline assets are positioned to continue to profit from favorable industry trends from both the supply and demand perspective.
The partnership's San Juan Gathering System serves natural gas producers in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and Colorado, where the system receives natural gas from approximately 9,500 connections. This 5,404-mile system gathers natural gas from wellhead connections and delivers it to our Chaco natural gas processing facility and to the San Juan natural gas processing facility, which is owned by third parties. Last year we completed 251 new well connections to our San Juan system and currently have a project underway to increase the capacity of this system by 10%, or 130 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). This $43 million optimization project began in late 2003 and will be completed in stages through 2006.
| Facility | Ownership Interest | Miles | Operator | Function |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Onshore Natural Gas Pipelines | ||||
| Texas Intrastate System | 100%(1) | 8,222 | Enterprise | Intrastate pipeline system that gathers and transports natural gas from supply basins in Texas and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico for delivery to local gas distribution companies and electric generation and industrial customers. |
| San Juan Gathering System | 100% | 5,404 | Enterprise | Extensive natural gas gathering system serving producers in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. It delivers production to the Chaco and San Juan natural gas processing facilities, with natural gas ultimately delivered into El Paso Natural Gas Pipeline. It delivers NGL to MAPCO and Wingate. |
| Permian Basin System | 100% | 1,477 | Enterprise | Gathers natural gas from wells in the Permian Basin region of Texas and New Mexico, delivering into the El Paso Natural Gas, Transwestern and Oasis pipelines. |
Acadian Gas System: |
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| Cypress Pipeline | 100% | 577 | Enterprise | Transports natural gas from onshore developments and, through connections with offshore pipelines, Gulf of Mexico production to local gas distribution companies, electric generation and industrial customers, including those in the Baton Rouge-New Orleans-Mississippi River corridor. |
| Acadian Pipeline | 100% | 438 | Enterprise | |
| Evangeline Pipeline | 49.5% | 27 | Enterprise | |
| Alabama Intrastate System | 100% | 450 | Enterprise | Gathers natural gas from the coal bed methane producing regions of Alabama. |
| Delmita Gathering System(2) | 100% | 295 | Enterprise | South Texas natural gas gathering system that connects approximately 140 producing wells to the Delmita processing facility. |
| Big Thicket Gathering System | 100% | 240 | Enterprise | Gathers natural gas production from East Texas fields for delivery into the Indian Springs natural gas processing facility |
| Indian Springs Gathering System | 80% | 89 | Enterprise | A system of three pipelines located in East Texas that gather area production into the Indian Springs processing facility. |
(1)The Texas Intrastate system also includes pipelines in which Enterprise owns an undivided interest.
(2)These gathering systems are an integral part of our natural gas processing business, the results of operations and assets of which are accounted for under our NGL Pipelines & Services business segment.