FERC Wednesday gave Questar’s Overthrust Pipeline the green light to begin service on an expansion that more than doubles the transportation capacity of its system located in Southwest Wyoming.

Overthrust, which had a capacity of 500,000 Dth/d prior to the expansion, has the ability to transport up to an additional 550,000 Dth/d of natural gas from its interconnect with Wyoming Interstate Co. Ltd (WIC) at the Kanda-Nightingale-Coleman Compressor Complex in Kanda, WY, to Opal where it now interconnects with Kern River Gas Transmission.

An Overthrust spokesman said the pipeline currently is accepting shipper nominations for service on the expanded system and hopes to have it in service by Jan. 1.

The project required Overthrust, which is owned and operated by Salt Lake City, UT-based Questar Pipeline, to build an additional 27.1 miles of 36-inch diameter pipeline and associated facilities beginning at a tie-in point on the pipeline’s existing system near the Uinta and Sweetwater counties in southwestern Wyoming and terminating at a proposed interconnect with Kern River near Opal [CP06-167]. The pipeline estimated the construction cost at $52 million.

The aim of the project was to extend Overthrust’s existing pipeline infrastructure to transport Rocky Mountain gas supplies to downstream markets. Overthrust said that while producers in the Rocky Mountain region were drilling and developing extensive gas supplies in the area, they had only limited pipeline capacity to deliver gas to markets.

Overthrust said it had negotiated a binding precedent agreement with WIC for up to 300,000 Dth/d of the incremental transportation capacity with an 11-year term. The agreement would provide WIC with firm transportation service from its existing Overthrust interconnect at Kanda in Sweetwater County to Kern River at Opal.

The Overthrust pipeline extends approximately 88 miles from the Whitney Canyon producing area in Uinta County in southwestern Wyoming to near Rock Springs, WY.

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