Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) pipeline last Tuesday filed an application at FERC to build its proposed Northern Bridge project to transport 150 MMcf/d of Rocky Mountain natural gas to Northeast markets.

The Northern Bridge project would involve new facilities that would extend from Clarington, OH, the terminus of the 1,678-mile Rockies Express Pipeline (REX), to the Oakford/Delmont, PA, region, giving Rocky Mountain producers access to several interstate pipeline and storage options.

Northern Bridge would be constructed entirely within Tetco’s existing facilities footprint through the addition of new and enhanced compression in Pennsylvania. Tetco said it has executed precedent agreements for the full amount of the capacity with BP Energy Co. and Merrill Lynch Commodities. The estimated cost of the project is about $45 million, according to Houston-based Spectra Energy.

Tetco has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to issue a certificate by Dec. 19. Spectra Energy said the project has an anticipated in-service date of Nov. 1, 2009.

In addition to Northern Bridge, Tetco is pursuing its proposed Texas Eastern Incremental Market Expansion (TIME) III project, an expansion of the pipeline from Oakford to the Northeast markets through additional compression and pipeline looping. The project, which also would provide Rockies producers with greater market access, will have an estimated cost of $300 million and is targeted for service in late 2010, Spectra Energy said.

The announcement of the TIME III expansion came less than a month after Tetco began testing the waters for the Northern Bridge project (see NGI, Oct. 8, 2007).

Spectra Energy is only one of many pipelines that plan to build projects from the terminus of REX in Ohio to Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets. Other companies that have either proposed or are considering similar projects include REX itself, El Paso and Equitable Resources, Dominion Resources, National Fuel Gas and Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line.

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