FERC authorized Texas Eastern Transmission LP's Access South, Adair Southwest and Lebanon Extension natural gas pipeline projects, which would provide 622,000 Dth/d of Appalachian supplies to Midwest and Southeastern markets.
The $442 million trio of projects sponsored by the Spectra Energy Partners LP subsidiary would supply customers with bidirectional flow capability for transportation to Gulf Coast markets and delivery along Texas Eastern's mainline system from Uniontown, Pa., to markets in Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio. FERC's approval to construct and operate the three projects came Dec. 21 in a certificate of public convenience and necessity, subject to compliance measures including 15 environmental mitigation steps.
The three projects are broken out separately to address the needs of their different customers, but they were grouped together in one application because they all stem from the same receipt point in Pennsylvania and Texas Eastern would build them during the same construction season.
The projects received a positive environmental assessment from FERC in an August review.
The Access South project would deliver 320,000 Dth/d to delivery points in Attala County, Miss., for Rice Energy Inc.'s Rice Energy Marketing LLC. The Adair Southwest project would provide 200,000 Dth/d to delivery points in Adair County, Ky., for Range Resources Corp.'s Range Resources - Appalachia.
To adhere to the precedent agreements with these two customers, the Access South and Adair Southwest projects would include the installation of approximately 13.7 miles of new 36-inch pipeline in Meigs, Athens, Noble and Monroe counties in Ohio; about half a mile of 16-inch pipeline loop and tie-in facilities from the Kosciusko compressor station to a metering facility in Attala County, Miss., abandoning the six-inch-diameter pipeline between the two points; and a new compressor unit at a station in Monroe County, Ky. The project would also include other modifications to 10 compressor stations for bidirectional compression and an interconnection with Columbia Pipeline Group Inc.'s Columbia Gulf Transmission LLC.
The Lebanon Extension project would provide 102,000 Dth/d to delivery points near Lebanon, Ohio, and will include interconnections with Boardwalk Pipelines LP's Texas Gas Transmission LLC and Hamilton, Ohio. Hamilton and Gulfport Energy Corp. subscribed to service from the project in a precedent agreement with Texas Eastern. The project would include building and operating approximately 2.1 miles of 36-inch pipeline loop in Monroe County, along with other new supporting facilities and modifications to two compressor stations in Ohio's Perry and Warren counties that would allow for bidirectional compression.
As one of FERC's conditions of the approval, the projects must be available for service within two years, meaning by Dec. 21, 2018. Texas Eastern had originally planned on receiving FERC authorization for the projects by July 21, 2016, but the company still anticipates that the projects will be completed by the 2017-2018 winter heating season. (FERC docket CP16-3)