Columbia Pipeline Group advances expansion projects

Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc. (CPG) and Columbia Pipeline Partners LP (Columbia) announced that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a certificate authorizing Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC (Columbia Gas) to construct and operate the Utica Access Project in West Virginia.

“We are pleased that the FERC has approved our application to construct the Utica Access Project,” said Columbia President Glen Kettering. “This is another Columbia growth project that connects abundant, but constrained, Appalachian supplies to higher value domestic markets.”

The Utica Access Project will be placed in service in the fourth quarter of 2016 and deliver up to 205 million cubic feet per day of Utica supply to the highly liquid Columbia Gas, Appalachia Pool.

Columbia also announced that Columbia Gas has formally filed a certificate application with the FERC for its WB XPress Project in West Virginia and Virginia.

The approximately US$850 million WB XPress Project will deliver up to 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of Appalachian supply to expanding Mid-Atlantic markets, as well as Gulf Coast markets via a downstream, third-party interstate pipeline expansion from an existing interconnect in West Virginia.

“The CPG team is sharply focused on the execution of our extensive growth and modernization investment inventory,” said Kettering. “Hitting these key project milestones keeps us squarely on track to deliver these projects on time and on budget.”

Prior to filing its WB XPress certificate application, Columbia worked with a number of communities, landowners and agencies at the federal, state and local level for well over a year. Columbia will continue to work closely with all stakeholders throughout each phase of the project.

Pending FERC authorization, Columbia expects to commence WB XPress construction in 2017 and place the project in service in the second half of 2018.