Kinder Morgan’s subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the US for its proposed $5bn Northeast Energy Direct Project (NED).
The 419.66 miles project is expected to expand the company’s existing pipeline system in Pennsylvania, New York and New England.
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It would connect low-cost natural gas supplies from northern Pennsylvania to New York as well as New England markets.
Kinder Morgan East Region Natural Gas Pipelines president Kimberly Watson said: "Despite being just a few hundred miles from the most abundant and low-cost natural gas production area in the country, consumers in the Northeast pay some of the highest natural gas and electricity rates in the continental US.
"These higher prices are due, in large part, to natural gas pipeline infrastructure that is insufficient to meet the winter heating demand of local distribution companies (LDCs) and electric generators."
Kinder Morgan announced that its board of directors had authorised TGP to proceed with the NED Project Market Path component and approved $3.3bn investment, on 16 July.
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By GlobalData"Adding the NED Project capacity to transport incremental natural gas supplies will ease natural gas capacity constraints and stands to provide significant benefits to energy consumers in the region in the form of lower natural gas and electricity prices in coming years," Watson added.
The NED Project consists of the supply path and the market path components.
With a maximum design capacity of 1.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), the supply path component comprises about 133 miles of 30-inch diameter pipeline.
The market path component, which will have a maximum design capacity of 1.3 Bcf/d, comprises about 188 miles of 30-inch pipeline extending from Wright, New York, to Dracut, Massachusetts.
It will also have five delivery laterals in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and one pipeline loop in Connecticut.
TGP requested the FERC to issue requested certificate and abandonment authorisations during the fourth quarter of 2016 in order to ensure timely construction of the NED Project.
The company proposes to begin certain construction activities in January 2017.
Image: Kinder Morgan operates approximately 70,000 miles of natural gas pipelines. Photo: © Kinder Morgan
