Scana wants cooperatives to shelve competitive pipeline

Scana Corp hopes it can persuade three South Carolina gas authorities from proceeding with their plans to build a $37-mil, 60-mile-long intrastate pipeline, a Scana spokeswoman said Friday. York, Lancaster and Chester County gas authorities partnered to create the Patriots Energy Group, which wants to build, own and operate a 16-inch-diameter underground line.
Pending approval by regulatory agencies, Patriots Energy wants to start construction in the fall of 2002 and complete work by 2003. Chester County Natural Gas Authority Executive Director Michael Enoch said that South Carolina Pipeline, a Scana subsidiary, prompted the cooperative's plans when it announced in June it wanted to convert to an open-access, transportation-only system.

The spokeswoman said the new SCPC tariffs have not been worked out. She added that Scana believes it can provide service to the three authorities at a cost less than what the cooperatives will pay to finance the construction of their pipeline. No new talks have been scheduled yet. The three authorities serve 56,000 customers.

platts.com