TULSA, Okla., Jan. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — ONEOK Partners, L.P. (NYSE:OKS) announced today that one of its subsidiaries, Guardian Pipeline, L.L.C., accepted the certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Dec. 14, 2007, for its Guardian Pipeline expansion and extension project. The certificate authorizes ONEOK Partners to construct, install and operate approximately 120 miles of a 30- and 20-inch natural gas transportation pipeline with a capacity to transport 537,200 dekatherms per day (Dth/d) of natural gas north from Ixonia, Wis., to near Green Bay, Wis.
“This expansion will meet the needs for additional natural gas supplies that are important to eastern Wisconsin’s economic health and long-term competitiveness,” said Pierce Norton, ONEOK Partners executive vice president of natural gas. “The Guardian project expands our existing natural gas pipeline footprint and is a part of the partnership’s overall growth strategy to invest more than $1.6 billion in internally generated growth projects through 2009, creating additional value for our customers and unitholders.”
The project is an extension and expansion of Guardian Pipeline, a 143-mile interstate pipeline system between Chicago and Ixonia, Wis. The 120-mile pipeline extension and expansion is anchored by 15-year agreements with Wisconsin Public Service Corporation and two subsidiaries of We Energies.
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin has given approval to the utilities to tie into the pipeline, which will provide needed additional natural gas transmission capacity in eastern Wisconsin. In addition, the FERC record indicates that the project has the support of at least 85 separate entities, including trade unions, Realtor associations, hospitals and health care groups, colleges and universities, businesses and chambers of commerce and utilities.
Construction on the $260 million extension and expansion project, the cost of which excludes allowance for funds used during construction (AFUDC), is anticipated to begin in the first quarter of 2008 and is projected to be in service in the fourth quarter of 2008.
View map (http://www.oneok.com/Guardian_Map.pdf) showing extension.
ONEOK Partners, L.P. (NYSE:OKS) is one of the largest publicly traded limited partnerships, and is a leader in the gathering, processing, storage and transportation of natural gas in the U.S. and owns one of the nation’s premier natural gas liquids (NGL) systems, connecting much of the natural gas and NGL supply in the Mid-Continent with key market centers. Our general partner is a wholly owned subsidiary of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) , a diversified energy company, which owns 45.7 percent of the overall partnership interest. ONEOK is one of the largest natural gas distributors in the United States, and its energy services operation focuses primarily on marketing natural gas and related services throughout the U.S.
For more information, visit the Web sites at http://www.oneokpartners.com/ or http://www.oneok.com/.
