News

May 22, 2006

Contact Andy Bowen
813-251-8720
ab@clearviewcom.com

E3 Consulting announces closing on gas storage project;
Huge Louisiana salt caverns to hold 24 billion cubic feet

Caverns are the ‘size of an Empire State Building underground’

DENVER – E3 Consulting LLC announces the completion of due diligence for its clients and closing on financing for a salt cavern gas storage facility in Louisiana with a capacity of 24 billion cubic feet.
When filled and fully operational in 2009, the inland facility (consisting of three storage caverns) is expected to help stabilize natural gas supplies and provide protection against gas supply interruption because of hurricanes and other natural disasters, according to Andrew Franks, Managing Director and a gas expert at E3 Consulting.

The facility will connect pipelines in the area that previously had limited or no interconnection, reducing the amount of interstate pipeline construction needed to support peak use. Benefits of the facility include high deliverability – that is, gas can be moved in and out quickly in support of trading initiatives. Construction started in November of 2005 and filling will begin early in 2007.

The project is being developed by Pine Prairie Energy Center LLC, which is indirectly owned 50 percent by Plains All American Pipeline LP, and 50 percent by Vulcan Capital. The initial financing from Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey was $320 million. The deal closed on May 9.

The project, in Evangeline Parish in central Louisiana, is the newest gas storage facility in the U.S. The nation currently has working gas capacity of about 3,000 billion cubic feet.

Each of the three salt caverns measures 300 feet wide by 1,500 feet deep. “Each cavern is approximately the size of an Empire State Building underground,” said Franks.

E3 Consulting provided a comprehensive due diligence review of the geology, surface facilities design, construction, capital cost, schedule, environmental and financial modeling aspects of the multi-year project.