Tallgrass Energy Partners’ Trailblazer Pipeline Co. LLC has filed with FERC to build a 16-mile, 10-inch diameter high-pressure natural gas transmission pipeline and related facilities in parts of northeast Colorado and northwestern Nebraska to interconnect with the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX).

The need for the additional pipeline capacity was prompted by a contract Trailblazer has with Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. for providing transportation services to Whiting’s Redtail Gas Processing Plant in Weld County, a spokesperson for the pipeline told NGI on Thursday.

A privately held sister company, Tallgrass Development, owns 50% of REX and operates the 1,700-mile natural gas interstate pipeline spanning from northwest Colorado to eastern Ohio (see Daily GPI, Nov. 14, 2012).

Trailblazer, under a blanket certificate issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2008 [CP82-497-000], seeks to build and operate the Niobrara Lateral in Weld County, CO, and Kimball County, NE.

The proposed pipeline would extend from Whiting’s existing gas processing facility in Weld County to Trailblazer’s mainline, continuing to a new interconnection with the REX pipeline. The project would include measurement and ancillary facilities, including a pig launcher and overpressure protection (OPP) at the Whiting Niobrara meter site and Niobrara lateral’s interconnection with the Trailblazer mainline.

The 436-mile Trailblazer Pipeline winds through parts of Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska, providing an outlet for Rocky Mountain gas seeking Midwest and East Coast markets.

Late last year, Trailblazer proposed revisions to its natural gas quality standards that prompted Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead to ask FERC to reject the proposal, alleging that it would be not only harmful to his state but the rest of the nation as well (see Daily GPI, Oct. 31, 2013).