Utopia has Arrived! Construction in OH Begins on Ethane Pipeline
Kinder Morgan has proposed the UTOPIA (Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access) pipeline, a 12-inch ethane pipeline that will run ~240 miles across the state of Ohio where it will connect with another pipeline and (eventually) flow ethane all the way to a cracker plant in Canada. That is, if they can get some holdout landowners to allow them onto their land (see UTOPIA Pipeline Sues Holdout OH Landowners Using Eminent Domain; UTOPIA Pipeline Still Battling OH Landowners with Eminent Domain; and Wood County, OH Judge Blocks Eminent Domain for UTOPIA Pipeline). Apparently enough land has now been secured that Kinder Morgan is moving forward. Yesterday crews started their chainsaws and began to clear trees to make way for the bulldozers that will show up this summer…
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In October 2015, Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) filed their official, full application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking approval for their Orion Project (see 
Seems like every few weeks we read about yet another pipeline either getting built, or reversed, in order to send Marcellus/Utica gas to other parts of the country. The latest one that surprised us (hadn’t heard of it before) is Kinder Morgan’s plan to add bidirectional capacity to their Kinder Morgan Louisiana pipeline (KMLP) to flow gas to Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility. KMLP is a pipeline in Louisiana–how does reversing it get Marcellus gas to Sabine Pass? As you might have guessed, KMLP connects with other pipeline systems, including Columbia Gulf Transmission and ANR Pipeline. Both of those pipeline systems, which flow Marcellus gas, are adding bidirectional capacity as well. When it’s all done, (more of) our gas will head to Sabine Pass for liquefaction and then export to other countries. How cool is that? Here’s an update on KMLP changing directions…
Last week MDN brought you news about Kinder Morgan’s Broad Run Expansion Project will expand transportation capacity of natural gas on the existing Tennessee Gas Pipeline system. Antis tried to stop the project, but FERC rejected their pleas (see 
Kinder Morgan’s Broad Run Expansion Project will expand transportation capacity of natural gas on the existing Tennessee Gas Pipeline system. The project includes the construction of two new compressor stations in Kanawha County, WV, one new compressor station in Davidson County, TN, and one new compressor station in Madison County, KY. Tennessee Gas also expects to increase compression capacity by modifying two of its existing compressor stations in Powell and Boyd counties in KY by replacing existing capacity with new, higher-rated horsepower compression units. The project will provide an extra 200,000 dekatherms per day (Dth/d) of transportation capacity along the same capacity path as the Broad Run Flexibility project, which was placed in service on Nov. 1, 2015. All of the additional gas will come from Antero Resources and their Marcellus/Utica program. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Certificate to build the project in September. However, several anti-drillers filed an appeal, asking for a stay claiming a removal of 40 acres of forest for a compressor station would irreparably harm Mom Earth. FERC has just ruled against the stay and told the antis Mom Earth will be just fine. Fire up the backhoes!…
Kinder Morgan, the largest midstream company in the U.S., posted their third quarter 2016 update on Wednesday. The company reports its first financial loss of the year, swinging from making $186 million in 3Q15 to losing $227 million in 3Q16. A lot of that was a paper loss–a writedown on the value of the Midcontinent Express Pipeline, and from expenses incurred from the sale of their part-ownership in the Southern Natural Gas system. As they usually do, Kinder offered updates for their major pipeline projects. The one that caught our eye is news that Kinder plans to begin construction in December of the Broad Run Expansion Project increasing capacity along the Tennessee Gas Pipeline from West Virginia to Mississippi and Louisiana, allowing Antero Resources to ship more Marcellus/Utica gas to the southeast. Here’s the Kinder update…
Kinder Morgan’s UTOPIA (Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access) pipeline is a 12-inch ethane pipeline that will run ~240 miles and will only be built in Ohio–therefore the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) won’t be involved in permitting the project. In September we noted that Kinder Morgan is still facing opposition from some Ohio landowners (see 
In April 2015 Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) subsidiary filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build 8.2 miles of new looping pipeline in Tioga County, PA and beef up two compressor stations in Bradford County, PA. The $142 million project is called the Susquehanna West Project. The project will increase capacity along a section of the TGP, bumping it up by 145 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d). All of the extra capacity is spoken for by Statoil and the wells they’ve drilled in NEPA. Good news: On Tuesday FERC issued their approval for the project, which means construction will begin in January 2017…
Three radicalized environmental groups–the Allegheny Defense Project, the Appalachian Mountain Advocates and Damascus Citizens for Sustainability–have filed a motion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to challenge FERC’s approval of three tiny pipeline expansion projects in Pennsylvania. Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s 300 line is proposing to expand three different segments of the line, serving different customers, and rightfully asked FERC to consider the three projects as separate and to not commingle them together. The radicalized groups are insisting FERC evaluate all three bundled together, in an attempt to slow down and hopefully stop progress on the projects…