Williams approves Bluegrass Pipeline project in US

The Williams board of directors has approved the company’s US Bluegrass Pipeline project, which will connect supply from the Marcellus and Utica shale-gas areas in the country.

The proposed natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline is expected to be in service by late 2015. It will also connect NGL supply with the developing petrochemical market in the north-east US.

On 28 May, Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners signed joint-venture (JV) agreements associated with the Bluegrass Pipeline and related fractionation, storage and export projects.

The pipeline project will include building a new NGL pipeline from producing areas in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to form an interlink with Boardwalk’s Texas Gas Transmission system in Hardinsburg, Kentucky.

A portion of Texas Gas in Eunice, Louisiana will be converted from natural gas service to NGL service under the project.

The JV will also build a new large-scale fractionation plant and expanding natural gas liquids storage facilities in Louisiana, as well as a new pipeline connecting these facilities to the converted Texas Gas line in Eunice. It will also develop a new export liquefied petroleum gas terminal and related facilities on the Gulf Coast, which will allow access to international markets.

The first phase of the project is expected to provide approximately 200,000 barrels of mixed NGL with take-away capacity in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Phase two will increase capacity to 400,000 barrels a day, with the addition of greater liquids pumping capacity.

Bluegrass Pipeline will carry mixed NGLs from the producing areas to new fractionation and storage facilities. These will provide connectivity to petrochemical facilities and product pipelines along the coasts of Louisiana and Texas.

Williams operates about 15,000 miles of interstate gas pipelines, 1,000 miles of NGL-transportation pipelines and 10,000 miles of oil-and-gas-gathering pipelines in North America.

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Image: Bluegrass Pipeline is expected to be in-service by late 2015. Photo: courtesy of Magnus Manske.