FERC issued a certificate Thursday to Dominion Transmission Inc. (DTI) to expand its pipeline and storage system in Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The project will provide an additional 115,000 Dth/d of firm transportation, an additional 7.5 Bcf of firm storage capacity and increase DTI’s system-wide maximum storage withdrawal by 125,000 Dth/d in the four states.

The additional gas storage and transportation capacity associated with the project has been fully subscribed under agreements with three customers, including two local distribution companies, according to DTI, a subsidiary of Richmond, VA-based Dominion.

The $112 million project calls for the construction of the 16,000 hp Myersville Compressor Station and a 30-inch diameter suction and discharge pipeline in Frederick County, MD; the new 3,550 hp Mullett Compressor Station and associated pipeline facilities in Monroe County, OH; and the installation of replacement pipeline facilities and ancillary equipment at the existing Sabinsville Storage Station in Tioga County, PA.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the four-state project over a number of objections. “All the proposed capacity has been subscribed under long-term contracts, demonstrating the existence of a market for the project. Based on the benefits of the project will provide and the minimal adverse effects the project will have on the economic interests of existing shippers, other pipelines and their captive shippers…we find…that the public convenience and necessity requires approval of DTI’s proposal,” the FERC order said [CP12-72].

“We…find that there is no indication that this project is in any way linked to the transportation of additional volumes of revaporized LNG [liquefied natural gas]; thus, Washington Gas’s previously voiced concerns have no relevance here. Further, contrary to the reasoning of the commenters, one might expect low natural gas prices to spur, rather than to inhibit, demand,” the order said.

“There is no indication in the record that any of the customers that have subscribed to the capacity created by the proposed facilities contemplate using that capacity to export natural gas. In any event, no gas may be exported without prior NGA Section 3 authority from the Department of Energy.”

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