Dominion is targeting the Appalachian Basin with a pipeline project that would carry shale and traditional gas production from West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania to storage fields and pipelines in Pennsylvania. The company is seeking pre-filing status for the project at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), it said Monday.

“Marcellus Shale and traditional production have increased the natural gas available from the Appalachian Basin,” said Dominion Energy CEO Gary Sypolt. “The Appalachian Gateway Project will lessen the bottleneck currently preventing some of the natural gas produced in West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania from getting to customers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic who are in need of new supplies.”

Independent energy analyst Pat Rau told NGI recently that the Marcellus Shale is among the key shale plays in which pipeline bottlenecks are emerging (see Daily GPI, Sept. 17).

Sypolt said the project is fully subscribed by Marcellus Shale and other Appalachian producers. The total firm capacity of the project would be 484,260 Dth/d. The approximate cost for facilities in the FERC request is $600 million. Plans are for construction to begin in 2011 and for the project to be in service in 2012.

Four compressor stations would be constructed and upgrades would be made at two existing stations, adding about 17,000 hp. About 110 miles of pipeline would be laid, beginning in West Virginia and terminating at Dominion and Spectra Energy’s jointly owned Oakford facility in Delmont, PA, east of Pittsburgh.

Last month Dominion said it was partnering with Williams to develop the Keystone Connector project, which would carry up to 1 Bcf/d from the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) terminus in Ohio to eastern and Mid-Atlantic markets (see Daily GPI, Aug. 11). Williams earlier this year created a midstream joint venture with Atlas Pipeline Partners LP that gives the company access to the Marcellus Shale (see Daily GPI, June 3; April 2).

Also serving the same area, National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. is currently holding a binding open season for incremental capacity from new and existing system interconnects in the Marcellus fairway in central Pennsylvania. The expansion facilities would serve Northeast markets via the Leidy, PA, market hub, the company said last month (see Daily GPI, Aug. 27).

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