The open season for Spectra Energy Partners LP’s Greenway Project resulted in bids exceeding 900,000 Dth/d for expansion capacity on its East Tennessee Natural Gas (ETNG) System, the company said. The nonbinding open season closed on Feb. 29.

“We received bids from about 30 different shippers including off-system customers, demonstrating systemwide demand from both producer and end-use market segments,” said Pat Gibson, vice president, East Tennessee Natural Gas LLC. “We will be working to further develop the final scope and timing that best meets the needs of the customers.”

The project could begin providing phased-in service by the end of 2008, with additional capacity to be added through 2012. Incremental expansion would be constructed as needed and existing rights of way would be used to the fullest extent practical. Next steps after developing the project scope will be to negotiate definitive agreements with shippers and initiate public outreach.

When the open season was announced, Spectra said necessary facilities were expected to cost $300 million to $500 million (see NGI, Feb. 4).

The ETNG system is a 1,400-mile pipeline with approximately 1.3 Bcf/d of capacity in the Appalachian gas supply basin. It provides access for the growing Appalachian production to reach markets in the Mid-Atlantic and Eastern regions of the United States.

Appalachia is home to the Marcellus Shale, a gas-rich reservoir 6,000 feet underground and spread through four states. While known for years, it’s only recently that producers have been turning their attention to the Marcellus, which could contain 50 Tcf of recoverable gas, according to researchers at Penn State University and the State University of New York at Fredonia. The main obstacle to development of the Marcellus has been technological, and two major advances have made the Marcellus’ development possible (see NGI, May 21, 2007; Sept. 18, 2006).

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