Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP is holding a 30-day nonbinding open season for its Marcellus Lateral Project, which would offer natural gas liquids (NGL) transportation from the Marcellus Shale to fractionation plants and petrochemical facilities near Sarnia, ON.

The NGLs would be transported via approximately 230 miles of new pipeline and KMP’s existing Cochin pipeline system. The project was announced in April and is among a number of projects targeting Marcellus NGLs (see Daily GPI, May 10; April 21). NGLs are attracting increasing attention from producers and infrastructure developers given their robust pricing relative to current natural gas prices (see Daily GPI, June 14).

Subject to regulatory approvals and necessary capital investments, Marcellus NGL shipments could begin as soon as mid-2012, Kinder Morgan said. With shipper support, the company said it could move more than 150,000 b/d at a rate as low as 9 cents/gal.

“We have developed our proposal based on discussions with Marcellus producers and gas processors and believe that Kinder Morgan offers the quickest and most efficient solution for the delivery of NGLs to the premium Ontario market,” said Don Lindley, vice president of business development for the partnership’s products pipeline group. “We also anticipate, at some point in time, reversing a section of Cochin to offer service to Chicago-area refiners, fractionation plants and petrochemical facilities.”

For information contact Karen Kabin at (713) 369-9268 or karen_kabin@kindermorgan.com, or Don Lindley at (713) 369-8840 or don_lindley@kindermorgan.com.

Cochin is a multi-product pipeline consisting of approximately 1,900 miles of 12-inch diameter pipeline operating between Fort Saskatchewan, AB and Windsor, ON. Cochin traverses three provinces in Canada and seven states in the United States, transporting propane, butane and NGLs to the midwestern United States and Eastern Canadian petrochemical and fuel markets.

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