National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. (Supply) and Empire Pipeline Inc. are holding two open seasons offering firm transportation capacity from the Marcellus Shale in central and southwestern Pennsylvania.

Supply and Empire are the operating companies that make up the pipeline and storage segment of National Fuel Gas Co. (National Fuel).

“Empire’s Tioga County Extension projects will help meet the demands of Marcellus producers in central and eastern Pennsylvania by providing significant additional capacity out of the area to high-value markets in New England, Canada and at the Dawn Hub,” said National Fuel COO Ronald J. Tanski. “The continued enhancement of Supply’s existing infrastructure in southwestern Pennsylvania provides a unique opportunity to serve those Marcellus producers by moving their production to the expanding East Coast and Mid-Atlantic markets.”

Empire’s open season 008 offers capacity in Empire’s Tioga County Extension Phase 2 Project (TCE2), which is being designed to provide approximately 260,000 Dth/d of incremental firm transportation from producer interconnections in Pennsylvania’s Bradford and Tioga counties, as well as from prospective interconnections with the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) 300 Line and the proposed Penn Virginia Resources Midstream (PVR) pipeline in Tioga and Lycoming counties. This transportation capacity would provide access to several Empire delivery points, including its existing interconnection with TransCanada Pipeline at Chippawa, NY, its planned interconnection with the TGP 200 Line near Rochester, NY, and its existing interconnection with Millennium Pipeline at Corning, NY.

The TCE2 project facilities would include two new compressor stations, approximately 25 miles of 24- or 30-inch diameter high-pressure pipeline and other enhancements. The new high-pressure pipeline would begin at a new interconnection with the TGP 300 Line and/or an interconnection with the proposed PVR pipeline, and would extend north to Jackson Township, PA, where it would connect with the 24-inch diameter pipeline that Empire expects to construct in 2011 as part of its previously announced Tioga County Extension Phase 1 Project (TCE1).

TCE1, which was the subject of Empire open season 006, is being designed to provide 350,000 Dth/d incremental capacity from Jackson Township to Empire’s interconnect with TransCanada at Chippawa. Service is expected to commence Sept. 1. The capacity is fully subscribed, the company said.

TCE2 would also provide short-haul capacity from the Pennsylvania producing area to Millennium Pipeline at Corning, NY. Empire expects that TCE2 could be placed in service as early as Sept. 1, 2013.

Supply’s open season 167 offers an additional 45,000 Dth/d of capacity in conjunction with its previously announced Line N Phase II expansion. The final facility design has made this capacity available, from receipt points at new and existing producer interconnects along Supply’s Line N system in Pennsylvania’s Greene, Washington and Beaver counties to a delivery point at its proposed interconnection with Texas Eastern Transmission at Holbrook Station in Greene County.

Supply’s Line N Phase II facilities would include additional compression at its Buffalo Station, along with approximately six miles of pipeline replacement in Washington County, PA. The project, which would have a total maximum capacity of 195,000 Dth/d, is currently supported by Range Resources Appalachia LLC, which has signed up for 150,000 Dth/d, the company said.

In June Supply filed an application for the Line N Phase I expansion, which is designed to provide 160,000 Dth/d of incremental capacity. The project is fully subscribed and has a projected in-service date of Sept. 1.

By 2020 estimates are the Marcellus Shale could be producing 10-20 Bcf/d, National Fuel’s Greg Maliken said at the recent Eastern Oil & Gas Conference and Trade show (see NGI, Sept. 13).

For information on the open seasons, visit www.nationalfuelgas.com.

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