After construction trouble and regulatory delays made for a gloomy first half of 2017, Energy Transfer Partners LP's Rover Pipeline LLC has started flows and recently moved roughly 700,000 Dth/d of natural gas.

The pipeline is transporting gas from southeastern Ohio to interconnects with the systems of Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co. LP and ANR Pipeline Co.

SNL Energy's pipeline flow data shows that on Sept. 13, Rover Pipeline moved over 640,000 Dth from Ohio River System LLC and more than 58,500 Dth from MarkWest Energy Partners LP's cryogenic processing plant in Cadiz, Ohio, to ANR and Panhandle Eastern. Energy Transfer, Energy Transfer afiiliates and Traverse Midstream Holdings LLC own Ohio River System, a gas gathering pipeline that transports gas from points along its 55-mile spine and from the MarkWest plant to the Texas Eastern Transmission LP, Rockies Express Pipeline LLC and Rover interstate pipelines.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Aug. 31 authorized service on the first piece of Rover's first phase: the interconnect between Rover and related projects on Panhandle Eastern and Trunkline Gas Co. LLC. This authorization came after a series of incidents in which Rover Pipeline or its construction contractors demolished a historical house and spilled drilling fluids in Ohio, straining relationships with federal and state regulators and delaying the original July 1 in-service date.

Rover has signed firm short-term contracts covering some of the month of September for 700,000 Dth/d, including agreements with BP plc's BP Energy Co. and independent producer Gulfport Energy Corp., according to SNL's Index of Customers.

Rover expects the pipeline's second phase to begin full commercial service in January 2018 after completing the 511-mile pipeline toward the end of November or in early December. The second phase will contain supply laterals and the market segment facilities that run from the Midwest Hub to the pipeline terminus at an interconnect with Vector Pipeline LP. When finished, the entire $4.2-billion project will transport gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays to Midwest markets and Ontario's Dawn Hub.

Ohio River System recently applied to FERC to start providing 150,000 MMBtu/d of transportation service that would enable Rover's producer customers to deliver gas to Rockies Express Pipeline LLC, which follows a westward path out of the Marcellus farther south than Rover. Texas Eastern connects the U.S. Gulf Coast with customers in the Northeast, but it has made its system bidirectional to supply U.S. LNG export terminals under construction on the Gulf.