Kinder Morgan Officially Cancels OH NGL Pipeline Project

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MDN speculated a few weeks ago that a proposed 240-mile pipeline Kinder Morgan planned to build from West Virginia to Toledo, OH was dead (see this MDN story). Kinder Morgan has now officially said just that:

The company’s Cochin Marcellus Lateral Pipeline would have started in Marshall County, West Virginia, and transported natural gas liquids from the Marcellus producing region of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the Kinder Morgan Cochin Pipeline in Fulton County, Ohio. That pipeline would carry the propane, ethane, butane and other liquids to processing plants and other petrochemical facilities in Illinois and Canada.

Company spokesman Alan Fore confirmed Thursday that Kinder Morgan was withdrawing its application to build the pipeline, which had been on file with the Ohio Power Siting Board for some time.

Fore did not say why the company had decided to drop the project, except to say they had continued to evaluate the project and that “while we are still interested in the Marcellus shale, at this time we are withdrawing our application.”

He did not rule out Kinder Morgan being involved in future Ohio projects as the process of exploiting the Utica shale formation grows.

“We have a good history in Ohio,” Fore said, noting that Kinder Morgan is a transportation company, not a drilling company. “And we look forward to doing business there. … We’re always looking at opportunities.”*

It is unfortunate. The pipeline would have transported valuable natural gas liquids, and would have provided some 2,500 jobs to build it.

*Mount Vernon News (Feb 17, 2012) – Kinder Morgan drops plans for pipeline

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