Williams Gauges Shippers' Interest in Mississippi Natgas Storage

Williams Cos Inc's Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co (Transco) unit on Tuesday announced an open season to gauge interest in natural gas firm storage capacity at its Eminence Storage Field in Covington County, Mississippi.

The open season, which runs from June 3 to July 16, is for storage service for up to 8.7 billion cubic feet per day of withdrawal and 7.3 billion cubic feet per day of injection as 7 well as a storage capacity of 73.1 billion cubic feet.

The capacity will become available on Aug. 1, 2014.

According to a website posting, the Eminence salt cavern storage facility has a current operating capacity of nearly 12 billion cubic feet.

Transco's 10,200-mile (16,400-km) pipeline system has the capacity to carry 9.9 billion cubic feet of gas per day from supply areas in the Gulf Coast and Appalachia, and imported liquefied natural gas to market areas in the Southeast, mid-Atlantic and Northeast, including New York City.

(Reporting by Anupam Chatterjee in Bangalore; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)