Mountaineer XPress gas line ready for full flows

Columbia Gas Transmission yesterday said it is ready to bring all facilities on line for its 2.7 Bcf/d (76mn m³/d) Mountaineer XPress natural gas pipeline expansion.

The pipeline yesterday filed a request asking the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to allow it to start service on the remaining portions of the project by 25 February. FERC just last month approved the project to begin partial flows at 1.1 Bcf/d.

The expansion on Columbia Gas, which serves US customers from New York to the Gulf of Mexico, is designed to transport Marcellus shale gas from West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania to Columbia Gas' Appalachia pool and to Columbia Gulf pipeline, which serves the southeast US and Gulf coast. The full project includes 165 miles (266km) of new pipeline from Marshall County to Wayne County, West Virginia, three new compressor stations and modifications to three existing compressor stations. Independent producer Antero Resources is an anchor shipper on the project.

Mountaineer XPress was originally scheduled to begin full service in late 2018 but that in-service date was pushed back amid regulatory delays. The pipeline in August increased its rate for new subscribers by nearly 50pc because of a $1bn hike in construction costs related to the delays.

The remaining facilities that Columbia Gas is ready to start includes about 30 miles of new 36-inch pipeline in West Virginia, two new compressor stations in Calhoun and Jackson counties in that state, and a regulating station in Jackson County, West Virginia.