National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. is holding a binding open season for incremental transportation capacity from new and existing system interconnects in the Marcellus Shale fairway in central Pennsylvania. The expansion facilities will serve Northeast markets via the Leidy, PA, market hub.

Pipeline and compression facilities will be constructed largely along existing infrastructure in central Pennsylvania and may be constructed in two phases.

“Current requests from active Marcellus producers for access to interstate pipeline capacity make this the logical first step or phase to what we’ve called our ‘West-to-East/Appalachian Lateral’ project,” said National Fuel Gas Supply President Ronald J. Tanski.

The company is prepared to construct the expansion in phases. Phase I would be designed to transport approximately 200,000 Dth/d from the Marcellus producing area through a new 32-mile pipeline to be constructed through Elk, Cameron and Clinton counties, PA, to the Leidy Hub, with an anticipated in-service date of November 2011. Phase II would be designed to provide additional capacity of at least 300,000 Dth/d and would consist of approximately 50 miles of new pipeline and compression, extending the Phase I facilities through Clearfield and Jefferson counties, PA, to the company’s Line K in western Elk County with an anticipated in-service date of November 2012.

The expansion is being offered as a stand-alone project, but the facilities are projected to become part of the previously announced West-to-East/Appalachian Lateral project (see Daily GPI, Sept. 9, 2008; Aug. 6, 2008). The longer-term West-to-East/Appalachian Lateral project involves additional upstream and downstream pipeline and compression designed to provide a transportation path from Clarington, OH, to Corning, NY. This project would carry Rockies gas from the Rockies Express Pipeline. Previous nonbinding open seasons for capacity on this project have received strong interest and the company said it will be working with potential customers as part of the current binding open season.

The open season will close at 11 a.m. EDT Oct. 8. More information is available at www.nationalfuelgas.com/supply or by calling the company’s interstate marketing department at (716) 857-7740. National Fuel Gas Supply is a unit of the pipeline and storage segment of National Fuel Gas Co.

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