Neither the recession nor the rain could stop work on a 507-mi natural gas pipeline from Oklahoma to Alabama that was scheduled at press time to start full service this month after a whirlwind 11-month construction sprint.
Construction of the $1.34-billion Midcontinent Express Pipeline began in September and required about 6,000 workers, says Albert Hughes, construction manager for the pipeline, which is jointly owned by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP of Houston and Energy Transfer Partners LP of Dallas. When additional compressor stations are completed this fall, the pipeline will have a total capacity of 1.8 billion cu ft per day. That makes it one of the largest projects in a period of exponential growth for natural gas pipelines in the United States.