Transco holds open season for Marcellus project

Market: Natural gas
05/09/14

Transcontinental Gas pipeline (Transco) is holding an open season through 29 September for an expansion that could add as much as 2 Bcf/d (57mn m³/d) of takeaway capacity from the Marcellus and Utica shales to mid-Atlantic and southeastern markets.

The project, known as the Western Marcellus pipeline, will add 1 Bcf/d to 2 Bcf/d of capacity from receipt points in the western Marcellus and Utica supply areas to points as far south as Transco's Zone 3 compressor station 65 in Mississippi and as far north as the proposed Zone 6 River Road point in Pennsylvania.

The project will connect Williams' Ohio Valley Midstream processing and gathering system in northern West Virginia with the Transco pipeline.

The project includes building a Greenfield pipeline extending from the terminus of the Rockies Express pipeline near Clarington, Ohio, and Williams' Oak Grove processing plant in Marshall County, West Virginia, to Transco compressor station 165 in southern Virginia. From there, mainline modifications will allow both northbound flow to the proposed River Road point and southbound flow to Station 65.

The final capacity, scope and cost of the project will be determined by the results of the open season. The planned in service date is late 2018.

Williams is pursuing various projects on Transco aimed at moving Marcellus gas to new markets, including south to markets along the eastern seaboard.

Transco last week announced an open season through 23 September for an expansion that could add as much as 1 Bcf/d of takeaway capacity from its Leidy Line in Pennsylvania.

That project, known as Diamond East, will allow shippers to move Marcellus gas from receipt points along the Leidy Line in the Pennsylvania counties of Luzerne and Lycoming to Transco's market pool at station 210 in Mercer County, New Jersey.

The Pennsylvania segment of Transco has the lowest gas prices on the long haul pipeline system that runs from Texas to New York City. Those prices also are among the lowest prices in North America.

Marcellus gas output, which includes production from shale wells and unconventional wells mostly in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, topped 15 Bcf/d in July, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Production from that field has increased sharply over the past four years, rising from 2 Bcf/d in 2010.

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