Source: Akron Beacon Journal
Another natural gas pipeline has been proposed to carry Utica shale natural gas from eastern Ohio to Midwest markets.
Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP wants to route the line through southern Stark and Wayne counties en route to Defiance in northwest Ohio where it would connect with existing pipelines to the Midwest. A separate pipeline is planned to send the natural gas from Defiance to the Detroit area and into Ontario.
The first leg of the Rover Pipeline Project would run from the Leesville natural gas processing plant under construction in southwest Carroll County west 186 miles to Defiance. That line could be operational by December 2016.
The pipeline would include six laterals extending 197 miles into western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia to tap into the Marcellus shale.
The Michigan-Ontario leg would be an additional 194 miles to the natural gas hub near Sarnia, Ontario, and could be operational by June 2017.
The proposed Rover pipeline system would cover 577 miles with pipelines from 24 to 42 inches in diameter.
There would be five new compressor stations and six new meter stations along the mainline in northern Ohio, plus five compressor stations along the supply laterals.
The company has approved the pipeline from Carroll County to Defiance and anticipates enough volume to build the line through southeast Michigan.
The project needs approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The initial paperwork was filed with that agency in June. The official application is expected to be filed in January 2015. Approval could come November 2015. Construction could begin in January 2016.
The new pipeline would initially transport up to 2.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, although that could grow to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day.
One billion cubic feet of natural gas is enough to heat 10,00 to 11,000 American homes for one year.
Energy Transfer, through subsidiary ET Rover Pipeline Co. LLC, conducted an open season that ended July 25 to sign up customers.
It has reportedly signed up three major producers: Colorado-based Antero Resources and Oklahoma-based American Energy-Utica LLC, two of the biggest players in Ohio, and Texas-based Range Resources Corp., one of the biggest players in Pennsylvania.
American Energy and Antero Resources both have options to purchase non-operating equity interests in the new pipeline.
ET Rover company held 10 public hearings on the pipeline in early July in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. About 150 people attended a July 9 open house in Wooster.
The Rover pipeline would create 3,000 construction jobs plus 30 to 40 full-time jobs, the company says.