Rover Pipeline LLC is looking to place its Burgettstown Lateral into service by Feb. 26, the operator told FERC Tuesday.

Rover filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking in-service authorization for the lateral, a 51.3 mile, 36-inch diameter line that runs from southwestern Pennsylvania to the project mainline in eastern Ohio. Rover is also seeking authorization to start up the related Burgettstown Compressor Station and a meter station.

The operator said work is nearly complete on the facilities and that it would like to place the lateral into service by Feb. 26 “so that its shippers can make the requisite contractual and operational arrangements to flow natural gas on the Rover Pipeline system. Rover’s shippers have urgently requested Rover place these facilities in service to allow their stranded natural gas supplies to be transported to Midwest markets.”

Rover secured authorization to enter service on its Phase 1B late last year and has a current operating capacity of around 1.7 Bcf/d.

Rover backer Energy Transfer Partners LP has said it plans to bring the remainder of its 3.25 Bcf/d, 713-mile interstate project — aka Phase 2 — into service by the end of March. The pipeline is designed to deliver Marcellus and Utica shale supplies to markets in the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Canada.

For Wednesday’s gas day, Rover was flowing just over 1.6 Bcf/d east-to-west from eastern Ohio to interconnects with the ANR and Panhandle Eastern pipelines in Defiance, OH, according to NGI’s daily Rover Tracker.

Last week, FERC authorized Rover to resume work on its second horizontal directional drill (HDD) beneath the Tuscarawas River in Stark County, OH, ending a stop-work order — based on environmental concerns — that lasted nearly two weeks.

Genscape Inc. noted at the time that the second Tuscarawas HDD “is required for Rover to bring the second of two 42-inch mainlines across Ohio online, and delays to the progress of the drill have a strong likelihood of impacting the in-service date.”

Energy Transfer will likely provide the latest updates for its highly anticipated project during an upcoming conference call scheduled Feb. 22 to discuss 4Q2017 results.