MoBay Storage Hub LLC, an affiliate of the Falcon Gas Storage Company, has signed a gas storage lease with the US state of Alabama that covers more than 24,000 acres of state-owned lands, clearing the way for construction of the MoBay storage hub to start in spring 2008. The target in-service date for the project, located in Mobile County, Alabama, is October 2009.
MoBay stated that it will develop the project in phases. The first phase will convert the largest of three depleted gas reservoirs into a 50 billion cubic feet (Bcf) high-deliverability, multi-cycle (HDMC) gas storage facility with 1Bcf per day of withdrawal and injection capacity. The second phase will develop the remaining two reservoirs.
The interstate natural gas storage facility will interconnect with local and interstate pipelines and natural gas processing facilities. All of these interconnects are within one mile of the main compressor station.
MoBay is located less than 25 miles from the planned Gulf LNG clean energy project and the proposed ChevronTexaco liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
MoBay has executed binding precedent agreements with nine shippers for 29.4Bcf of working gas capacity and plans to hold an open season in March 2008 for the remaining Phase-I capacity.