Texas Eastern Transmission LP (Tetco) has asked FERC for clearance to place into service the remainder of its Appalachia-focused Ohio Pipeline Energy Network (OPEN) project, saying it expects “full project mechanical completion” by Oct. 30. Service is expected to begin Nov. 1, a spokesman said.

OPEN will provide 550,000 Dth/d of transportation capacity from Tetco mainline interconnects in southwest Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to delivery points along the Tetco system in Mississippi and Louisiana. The project targets gas produced from the Marcellus and Utica shales.

Last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted authorization for two of the project’s six mainline facilities modifications to enter service, enabling bi-directional flow (see Daily GPI, Sept. 16). On Tuesday Tetco asked that it be allowed to place into service [CP14-68]:

“At present, the construction process is nearing completion, with work continuing primarily between approximate milepost [MP] 57.0 and the terminus at MP 75.8…” the pipeline told FERC. “Project-wide, mainline backfill is 100% complete…”

The Commission issued an order approving the project last December (see Daily GPI, Dec. 4, 2014). Tetco is a unit of Spectra Energy Partners LP.

On Sept. 18, OPEN began providing firm service on the Tetco mainline to Chesapeake Energy Marketing LLC, 4 CNX Gas Co. LLC, Rice Energy Marketing LLC and Total Gas & Power North America Inc. The interim mainline service is nearly completely utilized, a spokesman told NGI. He said Tetco anticipates that service utilizing the entire OPEN Project, including the Ohio Extension, will begin on Nov. 1.