Rover flows reach new high as Phase 2 begins

Flows on Energy Transfer Partners' Rover pipeline project, located in the US Appalachia and midcontinent regions, this week reached a new daily high of 1.8 Bcf/d (51mn m³/d), according to BTU Analytics.

The pipeline experienced multiple delays and regulatory setbacks during its planning and construction stages, which has resulted in the project bringing partial flows on line in phases as it works toward its design capacity of 3.25 Bcf/d. The project in December 2017 began Phase 1 flows of 1.7 Bcf/d from Cadiz to Defiance, Ohio. The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) earlier this month approved Phase 2 facilities from Ohio to Michigan, which ETP executives said on an earnings call means it can begin flows of 75pc of the project's design capacity, or about 2.4 Bcf/d.

Actual flows on the line as of yesterday had risen by only 100mn cf/d from its Phase 1 level, but the slight increase indicates that portions of Phase 2 are being used, BTU Analytics analyst Jake Fells said.

Flows into Michigan have not been recordedt, but Fells said he expects them to begin on 1 June, if not earlier. ETP has said that the full project would be on line by that date, "but I think a more realistic timeline would be mid-June," Fells noted.

Independent producer Antero Resources has 800mn cf/d of capacity on Energy Transfer's Rover pipeline project.

"We were one of the key folks behind supporting the Rover project," as it is a way to access both the midcontinent and Gulf markets, Antero senior vice president of business development Steve Woodward said yesterday at the Argus North American Natural Gas Markets conference in Houston. "You are going to see Appalachian gas being very prominent" in midcontinent and Canadian markets partly as a result of Rover, he added.

Antero executives last month said the company was ready to boost its production by 400mn cf/d as soon as Phase 2 came on line. Woodward declined to say whether the company has been able to boost its output on Rover since FERC approved Phase 2 flows.