It has been just over a year since Spectra Energy acquired Bobcat Storage Co. for $540 million from Haddington Energy Partners III LP and GE Energy Financial Services. Since that time, the facility has enabled the company to increase its storage capacity in the Gulf Coast to nearly 100 billion cubic feet (Bcf).

Spectra Energy will surpass this storage level next year when it brings on Bobcat Storage’s third salt dome storage cavern. The facility’s two storage caverns currently have a combined 18 Bcf of storage, according to the company. The company anticipates that it will have 46 Bcf of capacity at Bobcat by the end of 2015.

“What drew us to the Bobcat acquisition and why it will deliver premium value to our customers and investors: Natural gas storage is key to our business and this project, once complete, will ensure Spectra Energy’s position as one of the largest salt dome storage providers in the Southeast,” Greg Ebel, president and chief executive of Spectra Energy, said at the time of the acquisition last year.

“Power producers and marketers need and value the flexibility and rapid responsiveness of salt dome storage. We’re providing customers with a lot more flexibility here. The Bobcat assets are ideally positioned in proximity to our existing storage, and pipeline infrastructure and can be easily integrated into our Gulf Coast storage and pipeline assets,” Ebel added.

The facility is located 45 miles north of the Henry Hub in Point Barre in St. Landry Parish, La., and has access to five interstate pipelines. According to Hart Energy’s Mapping & Data Services, these pipelines are Gulf South, Transco, Tetco, Florida Gas and ANR. Its associated gathering pipelines stretch 17.4 miles in all.

The top five firm storage customers at Bobcat Gas Storage are Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc. at 4 Bcf; Gavilon at 1.95 Bcf; Sequent Energy Management LP at 1 Bcf; Macquarie Cook Energy LLC at 1 Bcf; and Atmos Energy Marketing LLC at 1 Bcf.

Contact the author, Frank Nieto, at fnieto@hartenergy.com.