In order to meet the Nov. 1 start-up date for its Northeast Upgrade Project, Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) has asked FERC for permission to begin placing components of the system expansion, which would add 636,000 Dth/d of takeaway capacity from the Marcellus Shale, in service as early as October.

TGP, a Kinder Morgan subsidiary, is seeking the go-ahead to place loops 317 and 319 in service on Oct. 8 or as soon as feasible thereafter. “At this time, Loop 317 is complete, except for the…horizontal directional drill crossing of the Susquehanna River…Loop 319 is mechanically complete and ready to be placed in service,” the company said.

TGP has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for authorization to place loops 321 and 325 in service on Oct. 15. Both loops 321 and 325 are extensions of existing pipeline loops. Placing 325 in service as requested will facilitate Tennessee’s ability to perform hydrostatic testing of a section of Tennessee’s existing Line 300. Tennessee cannot take that section of existing pipeline out of service until the new and existing pipeline segments are placed into service and returned to service.

The pipeline is seeking permission to place the remaining Northeast Upgrade Project facilities in service on Nov. 1. These include one pipeline looping segment (Loop 323); work authorized at compressor stations 319, 321, 323 and 325; the certificated facilities at the Mahwah (NJ) Meter Station that are complete as of Nov. 1, and the temporary facilities at Mahwah, including additional piping approved by the Commission in a variance issued on Sept. 25.

TGP sought and received variance authority to install certain temporary facilities at the Mahwah Meter Station in late September (see Shale Daily, Sept. 26). “In order to commence service to the project shippers as of Nov. 1 for the full amount of project capacity, Tennessee is now requesting in-service authorization for the temporary facilities at the Mahwah Meter Station as well as the other completed certificated facilities” at the meter station.

The project shippers are Chesapeake Energy Marketing Inc. (429,300 Dth/d) and Statoil Natural Gas LLC (206,700 Dth/d), under contract terms of at least 20 years (see Shale Daily,Sept. 17). The pipeline said it would remove the temporary facilities from service when the certificated Mahwah Meter Station facilities are completed. TGP said it expects to complete construction and place into service the certificate Mahwah Meter Station by May 1.

The project, which FERC approved in mid-2012, will allow additional Marcellus gas supplies to be transported along Tennessee’s 300 Line to an interconnect with Algonquin Gas Transmission in Mahwah to serve growing markets in the Northeast (see Shale Daily, May 31, 2012). To create the additional firm transportation capacity, Tennessee’s project includes five 30-inch diameter pipeline loops and modifications to four existing compression stations.