Nearly a half a billion dollar project began in January to create a natural gas storage facility in two salt domes encompassing over 400 acres in Smith and Jasper counties. When completed and in service — projected to be by the summer of 2010 — the facility will provide up to 32 billion cubic feet of working gas capacity.

A 43-mile pipeline system will stretch from between Smith, Jasper and Clarke counties and inner-connect with Transco, Tennessee, Gulf South, Southern National and Destin gas pipeline companies and also the proposed Kinder-Morgan Express Pipelines.

One of the elements is a compressor station which pushes the gas down into the ground. It will be located close to the salt dome in Smith which is close to Stringer in Jasper County. A portion of the pipeline will be built from Stringer to past Heidelberg.

The project is being handled by Leaf River Energy Center LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NGS Energy LP of Westport, Conn.

In July, the project will employ about 1,200 people, of which approximately 40 percent be “local hires,” according to Heath Plagmann, project engineer for Leaf River Energy. “A lot of these people will be living in Laurel,” he said Friday afternoon on Dixie Golf Course, where he was participating in the 40th annual Mississippi Oilmen’s Golf Tournament.

“Approximately 500 of the 1,200 should be local hires,” Plagmann said. The project is employing 35 sub-contractors, some of whom are from the Laurel area.

“We are very excited to receive this order and enter the next phase of development of this necessary and well positioned gas storage facility,” Laura Luce, president of Leaf River Energy Center, said.

“The amount of interest and contracted capacity for this project has really demonstrated the market’s desire for a natural gas storage facility that can take or place gas in high volumes to multiple pipelines in an economical manner,” she said. “Also, like our last project that was brought in operation on time and on budget, the Leaf River Energy Center will provide hundreds of construction jobs and high paying operating positions that will benefit the local area.”

Parties interested in contracting for storage capacity or learning more about the Leaf River Energy Center are encouraged to contact Mark McConnell at 203-557-1000 or mmcconnell@ngsenergy.com.