Chesapeake Utilities Corp. subsidiary Eastern Shore Natural Gas Co. has submitted a request to FERC to begin the pre-filing review process for the company’s 2017 Expansion Project to meet additional market demand in its Delaware service territory.

The project would provide more than 86.4 MMcf/d of additional natural gas receipt capacity and firm transportation service from Eastern Shore’s Texas Eastern Transmission LP interconnect near Honey Brook, PA, to its existing facilities in Parkesburg, PA, allowing it to move more gas from Southeast Pennsylvania to Delaware.

The expansion would consist of 33 miles of pipeline looping in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware; upgrades to existing metering facilities; the installation of an additional 3,550 hp unit at the existing Daleville compressor station in Chester County, PA, and 17 miles of new mainline extension.

Eastern Shore said it anticipates filing its certificate application six months after FERC begins the pre-filing review process, or sometime in November. The company plans to begin construction on the expansion in June 2017 and have it in service by the fourth quarter of that year.

Eastern Shore is the interstate natural gas pipeline subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities. Natural gas is transported through the company’s pipeline network for distribution to residents and businesses via local distribution companies on the Delmarva Peninsula in Delaware.