Inergy, L.P. has completed the previously announced acquisition of the Tres Palacios natural gas storage facility located in Matagorda County, Texas, for approximately $725 million. The Tres Palacios acquisition significantly expands Inergy's natural gas storage operations and adds a new natural gas storage platform for growth in its midstream operations.

Tres Palacios is a high deliverability, salt dome natural gas storage facility with approximately 38.4 Bcf of working gas capacity including 27.1 Bcf of current working gas capacity (Caverns 1 and 2) and 11.4 Bcf of incremental working gas capacity scheduled to be placed in service in the fourth calendar quarter of 2010 (Cavern 3). The facility is expandable by an additional 9.5 Bcf of working gas capacity which Inergy expects to place in service by or before 2014 (Cavern 4). Located approximately 100 miles southwest of Houston, Tres Palacios is currently connected to a total of ten intrastate and interstate pipelines offering connectivity to multiple demand markets including the Houston and San Antonio metropolitan areas and the broader Texas markets as well as markets in the Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, Florida, and Mid-Atlantic United States and Mexico.

Inergy completed the long-term financing of the Tres Palacios acquisition in September with the issuance of over $400 million of Inergy common units and $600 million in senior unsecured notes due 2018.

Bill Moler, Senior Vice President of Inergy Midstream, also announced that Bruce Page has joined the Inergy Midstream management team as the Director of Commercial Operations-South reporting to Ron Happach, Vice President of Commercial Operations. Mr. Page is a 28-year industry veteran with experience in both the Texas intrastate and national transportation and storage infrastructure markets. Prior to joining Inergy, Bruce held senior level positions at Kinder Morgan, primarily in the marketing and development of gas storage and transportation services. Assisting Bruce will be Jeff Reavis, Manager, Hub Services. Mr. Reavis has 25 years of experience in natural gas storage, marketing, gas aggregation, and storage facility optimization and will focus on hub service opportunities on behalf of the customers of Tres Palacios. Prior to joining Inergy, Jeff held senior positions at Iberdrola, PPM, Aquila, and MidCon.

Tags: Inergy