HOUSTON, Aug. 20, 2001 – Noble Affiliates Inc., through its subsidiary Noble Gas Marketing, expands its fuel management role to merchant power plants.
Noble Gas Marketing will fuel manage two independent power plants – Union Power Station in El Dorado, Ark. and in Gila River Power Station in Gila Bend, Ariz., according to Bob Burleson, Noble Gas Marketing president.
As fuel manager, Noble Gas Marketing will be responsible for transportation, nominations, scheduling and balancing, and overall capacity management. Also, Noble Gas Marketing will be assisting with gas acquisition, excess gas sales, transportation capacity acquisition and storage acquisition.
The Union Power facility is anticipated to begin commercial operation in 2002. The plant is anticipated to serve wholesale customers throughout Arkansas and Louisiana, as well as portions of Mississippi and Texas. In addition, the plant will be capable of selling into Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois.
The natural gas-fueled Gila River Station is expected to be brought into service in 2003. The plant is designed to sell electricity throughout Arizona with excess energy being sold to wholesale customers in California, Nevada and New Mexico.
The power plants are being constructed by Panda Energy International and TECO Power Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of TECO Energy Inc. Combined the power plants cost approximately $2.2 billion and are expected to generate 4,400 megawatts.
“Noble Gas Marketing has enjoyed a long-term relationship with Panda Energy and TECO Energy subsidiaries,” he said.
Noble Gas Marketing currently performs fuel management for several municipalities, electric and gas utilities, and industrial end users.
Noble Affiliates, the parent company of Noble Gas Marketing Inc., Samedan Oil Corp., and Noble Trading Inc., is one of the nation’s independent energy companies. Noble Affiliates operates throughout major basins in the United States, including the Gulf of Mexico, as well as international operations in Argentina, China, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea and Vietnam.
