43
Tennessee Gas plans compressor station in Mahoning County
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
A subsidiary of the largest energy infrastructure company in North America has a plan to build a compressor station in Mahoning County.
Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC, a Kinder Morgan Co., has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to authorize its request to abandon one parallel pipeline that comprises about 964 miles of mainline pipeline facilities between Natchitoches, La., and Columbiana County.
The company at the same time is asking to construct and operate about 7.6 miles of new pipeline looping in Carter and Lewis counties in Kentucky, four new compressor stations in Ohio, two compressor units at an existing compressor station in Kentucky, and another compressor unit at a proposed compressor station in Kentucky.
The project altogether is valued at $412 million and is known as the Abandonment and Capacity Restoration Project (ACR).
Because the project is still in its preliminary stages, the exact location in Mahoning County of a compressor station is fluid. Compressor stations aid in the transportation process of natural gas from one location to another.
Stations are also planned for Tuscarawas, Jackson and Morgan counties in Ohio. In total the four compressor stations will offer 82,000 horsepower.
The construction of the replacement facilities will allow Tennessee Gas “to maintain firm transportation service to its existing customers,” Tennessee Gas’ application to FERC says.
Kinder Morgan operates about 84,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. Its pipelines transfer natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, carbon dioxide and more.
Tennessee Gas’ infrastructure consists of about 14,000 miles of pipeline.
Following the approval of line abandonment by the commission, the company plans to sell the facilities to its affiliate, Utica Marcellus Texas Pipeline LLC, for conversion to a natural gas liquids service, which is a part of another project known as Utica Marcellus Pipeline Project.
The UMPP project is contingent on the approval of the ACR project. It would allow for the transportation of natural gas liquids from the Marcellus and Utica basins to the Texas Golf Coast. The planned in-service date for UMPP is the fourth quarter of 2018.
Tennessee filed the ACR application to the commission in February asking for authorization to be granted by Feb. 15, 2016.
“This timing will enable Tennessee to complete acquisition of property for the new compressor station locations, materials procurement, and construction of new replacement facilities and begin the reconfiguration of its system by the second quarter of 2016,” the company’s application says.
This month, FERC said it will prepare an environmental assessment of the project and the impact the abandonment project will have on the environment. The public is allowed to submit comments on the project.
The commission encourages electronic filing of comments on its website, ferc.gov on or before May 18.