[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 242 (Wednesday, December 17, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66072-66073]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-32837]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. CP98-119-000]


Williams Natural Gas Company; Notice of Application To Amend 
Certificate

December 11, 1997.
    Take notice that on December 5, 1997, Williams Natural Gas Company 
(Williams), P.O. Box 3288, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74101, filed an application 
pursuant to section 7(c) of the Natural Gas Act, to amend Williams' Elk 
City Storage Field certificate, issued on September 24, 1958, in Docket 
No. G-10956 (20 FPC 390), by allowing an expansion of the Elk City 
storage facilities, all as more fully set forth in the application, 
which is on file with the Commission and open to public inspection.
    The certificate issued in Docket No. G-10956 authorized Williams 
(formerly: Cities Service Gas Company) to construct and operate the Elk 
City Storage Field, in Elk, Chautauqua, and Montgomery Counties, 
Kansas, as an underground gas storage field.
    Williams' application in Docket No. CP98-119-000 has been filed to 
comply with a November 13, 1996 order that the Commission issued in 
Docket No. CP96-311-000. The November 13 order authorized Williams to 
expand its buffer zone by 1,460 acres, and required Williams to conduct 
a detailed reservoir

[[Page 66073]]

engineering/operational study and develop a new operational plan for 
the Elk City Storage Field, designed to prevent storage reservoir 
expansion and gas migration, and (to the maximum extent possible) to 
establish and maintain confinement of its Elk City storage gas within 
the original certificated storage field boundaries, i.e., south of the 
new 1,460 acre buffer zone. The Commission further instructed Williams' 
that its operating plan had include:
    (1) Include the proper storage reservoir boundary requirement;
    (2) Include the maximum storage volumetric operating capacity 
(without gas loss);
    (3) Include the maximum working and cushion gas volumes;
    (4) Include the maximum injection/withdrawal rates;
    (5) Include the proper shut-in reservoir pressure requirement for 
the Elk City Storage Field;
    (6) Detail all operational changes actually implemented by Williams 
as of November 30, 1997, and explain how those changes have affected 
the capacity and deliverability of the storage field and Williams' 
storage services; and
    (7) Detail Williams' progress toward confining its storage gas 
within the original certificated storage field boundaries, or any 
alternative boundaries that Williams may propose.
    Williams filed its reservoir engineering/operational study and its 
new operational plan for the Elk City Storage Field on November 26, 
1997, and it is on file with the Commission and open to public 
inspection.
    Williams now requests the Commission to authorize Williams to 
acquire gas storage rights (by lease, purchase, or the exercise of 
eminent domain under the Natural Gas Act) for the west half of Section 
2, T31S, R13E, in Montgomery County, Kansas, and all of Section 3 and 
the east half of Section 4 in T31S, R13E, in Elk County, Kansas, and 
the south half of Section 34 in T30S, R13E, in Elk County, Kansas. The 
proposed increase in the storage area will add approximately 1,600 
acres to the Elk City Storage Field, for a buffer zone, adjacent to the 
northern boundary of the storage leasehold interests previously 
authorized in Elk County, Kansas.
    Williams also requests the Commission to authorize it to increase 
the maximum operating pressure of the storage field to 595 psig, 
wellhead (630 psia, reservoir), and to establish a maximum inventory 
level of 30.7 Bcf at 14.73 psia (30.9 Bcf at 14.65 psia). Williams 
further seeks to establish a range of working and cushion gas levels, 
and connect three storage observation wells to the storage field's 
injection/withdrawal system. Specifically, Williams seeks to connect 
the BH&W #15-1 well in Section 15, T31S, R13E, the BH&W #10-4 well in 
Section 10, T31S, R13E, and the Kimzey #10-5 well, in Section 10, T31S, 
R13E, by adding approximately 4,500 feet of 4-inch pipeline and 
approximately 1,500 feet of 6-inch pipeline to the existing system. 
Williams also proposes to install a check valve on the existing 6-inch 
lateral in the northeast quarter of Section 15, T13S, R13E, in Elk 
County, Kansas, just north of the Elk #1 well, to ensure that the Elk 
#60, Elk #61, BH&W #15-1, BH&W #10-4, Kimzey #10-5 wells will only be 
operated as withdrawal wells.
    Williams asserts that the proposed changes are reasonable and 
required by the present and future public convenience and necessity.
    Any person desiring to be heard, or to make any protest with 
reference to said application should, on or before January 2, 1998, 
file with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., 
20426, a motion to intervene or protest in accordance with the 
requirements of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 
CFR 385.214 or 385.211) and the regulations under the Natural Gas Act 
(18 CFR 157.10). All protests filed with the Commission will be 
considered by it in determining the appropriate action to be taken, but 
will not serve to make the protestants parties to the proceeding. Any 
person wishing to become a party to the proceeding, or to participate 
as a party in any hearing therein, must file a motion to intervene in 
accordance with the Commission's Rules.
    Take further notice that, pursuant to the authority contained in 
and subject to the jurisdiction conferred upon the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission by Sections 7 and 15 of the Natural Gas Act and 
the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, a hearing will be 
held without further notice before the Commission or its designee on 
this application, if no motion to intervene is filed within the time 
required herein, or if the Commission on its own review of the matter 
finds that a grant of the certificate is required by the public 
convenience and necessity. If a motion for leave to intervene is timely 
filed, or the Commission on its own motion believes that a formal 
hearing is required, further notice of such hearing will be duly given.
    Under the procedure herein provided for, unless otherwise advised, 
it will be unnecessary for Williams to appear or be represented at the 
hearing.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-32837 Filed 12-16-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M