EQT Gathering LLC has filed an application to build and operate the Derry Compressor Station in Westmoreland, PA, and other compression facilities to move natural gas from the Marcellus Shale region to interstate markets.

The Derry facilities would consist of a compressor station with three compressor engines totaling 14,205 hp. Initially, the facilities would receive locally produced pipeline-quality unprocessed gas from EQT Gathering’s Three Rivers gathering system in Pennsylvania; would dehydrate the gas; and then discharge the gas via a 200-foot discharge line into the Texas Eastern Transmission LP (Tetco) system.

EQT Gathering, a unit of Pittsburgh-based EQT Corp., said it anticipates that the Derry facilities would receive locally produced gas from other EQT gathering facilities in the future. It asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to act on the application by Nov. 15.

A Pennsylvania State University report projects that the Marcellus region will be producing more than 17 Bcf/d of natural gas by 2020. As proof of the region’s prolific shale development, it said the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issued 125 unconventional well permits between January and May of this year, and local producers drilled 88 unconventional wells in the counties surrounding the planned Derry facilities.

“This rapid development has caused and will continue to cause significant infrastructure constraints. In light of the continued projected growth in production in the region, EQT Gathering anticipates further expansion of its gathering system,” the company said.

The Derry facilities would increase gathering capacity to meet the growing demand for such services in southwestern Pennsylvania. It said it has entered into long-term gathering agreements with local producers, including an agreement with a third-party producer for which EQT Gathering will provide up to 50,000 Dth/d of gathering service.

The Three Rivers gathering system, which Equitable transferred to EQT Gathering in 2007, receives locally produced gas into the gathering system along its length for ultimate delivery into Tetco, Columbia Gas Transmission and Equitrans LP. EQT Gathering proposes to also receive a limited quantity of natural gas at the Derry facilities from a new interconnect with the Peoples Natural Gas Co.’s pipeline in Westmoreland County.