OREANDA-NEWS. Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (Transco) today announced that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved its application to construct and operate Transco's Mobile Bay South III Expansion project, which would provide additional firm natural gas transportation capacity to growing markets in the Southeast United States by the spring of 2015.

The Mobile Bay South III Expansion Project is designed to provide 225,000 dekatherms per day of firm transportation service on the Transco Mobile Bay Lateral from the Station 85 4A Pooling Point and other receipt points located at Transco's Station 85 in Choctaw County, Ala., to interconnections with Florida Gas Transmission and Bay Gas Storage in Mobile County, Ala. The project would deliver enough natural gas to generate the energy equivalent of 65 million hours of electricity.

The proposed expansion would involve adding compression at Transco Compressor Station 85 in Choctaw County, Ala., along with upgrades at existing facilities in Washington and Mobile counties in Alabama. The capital cost of the project is estimated to be approximately USD 50 million. Construction is scheduled to begin in May 2014.

Transco is the nation's largest-volume interstate natural gas pipeline system. It delivers natural gas to customers through its 10,200-mile pipeline network whose mainline extends nearly 1,800 miles between South Texas and New York City. The system is a major provider of cost-effective natural gas services that reach U.S. markets in 12 Southeast and Atlantic Seaboard states, including major metropolitan areas in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.