EQT Ohio Valley Connector gasline starts flows

OREANDA-NEWS. October 07, 2016. EQT Midstream Partners' Ohio Valley Connector natural gas pipeline project has begun service.

The 850mn cf/d (24mn m?/d) line has increased takeaway capacity for Marcellus and Utica shale producers. The Marcellus shale in the Appalachian region of the US is leading the rebound in gas drilling. Gross gas output from the top US gas-producing field by volume in August was up by about 6pc from a year earlier.

The project is an extension of the existing Equitrans system and stretches for 37 miles (60km) from northern West Virginia to Clarington, Ohio. The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on 27 September granted EQT's request to place the line into service and the line began flowing on 1 October.

The \\$415mn line allows EQT's transmission and storage system to connect with major interstate pipelines in the basin, EQT Midstream Partners chief operating officer Randy Crawford said.

The line connects the Equitrans system with the partnership's own Sunrise Transmission system as well as the Rockies Express pipeline. There are plans to connect it with Texas Eastern Transmission and the Rover pipeline.

The project includes two new compressor stations with about 40,000hp combined: the Corona station in Wetzel county, West Virginia, and the Plasma station in Monroe county, Ohio.

EQT said in July that it would drill 30 more wells in the Marcellus this year partly because of the partnership's Ohio Valley Connector project improving takeaway options. EQT produced about 2 Bcf/d of natural gas equivalent in the second quarter.