OREANDA-NEWS.   Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) announced today that its Transco natural gas pipeline has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand a compressor station and provide additional firm natural gas transportation capacity to growing markets in the Southeast United States by the spring of 2015.

 The Mobile Bay South III Expansion Project is designed to provide 225,000 dekatherms per day of firm transportation service on the Transco Mobile Bay Lateral from the Station 85 4A Pooling Point and other receipt points located at Transco's Station 85 in Choctaw County, Ala., to interconnections with Florida Gas Transmission and Bay Gas Storage in Mobile County, Ala. The project would deliver enough natural gas to provide service to approximately 1 million homes.

 "Growing power-generation demand has dramatically increased utilization of Transco's Mobile Bay Lateral in recent years," said Frank Ferazzi, general manager of the Transco system. "Our proposed Mobile Bay South III expansion is an efficient way to move additional supply from a well-positioned compressor station in Choctaw County, Ala. to a number of regional storage facilities to growing Southeastern markets."

 The proposed expansion would involve adding compression power at Transco Compressor Station 85 in Choctaw County, Ala., along with upgrades at existing facilities in Washington and Mobile counties in Alabama. With FERC approval, construction could begin in the spring of 2014. The capital cost of the project is estimated to be approximately USD 50 million.

 The Transco pipeline is a 10,200-mile pipeline system that provides natural gas transportation and storage services for markets throughout the Northeastern and Southeastern United States. Major markets include New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Atlanta. Transco's major customers are primarily power generators, local distribution companies and producers. In the last decade, the company has placed into service 20 Transco growth projects totaling in excess of USD 1.8 billion of capital investment. The current system capacity is approximately 9.9 million dekatherms per day, which is enough natural gas to serve the equivalent of 42 million homes.