Columbia Gas Transmission commissions East Side Expansion Project in US

Columbia Gas Transmission, a subsidiary of Columbia Pipeline Group (CPG) has brought the East Side Expansion Project (ESE) online in the US.

CPG president Glen Kettering said: "East Side is an important piece of our project backlog which is designed to meet the needs of both producers and end-use markets over the next several years.

"Placing it in service today is a testament to our team’s focus on executing CPG’s exciting growth plan on time and on budget."

Set to create additional capacity of 312 million ft³ per day on the Columbia system, the project involved the installation of two natural gas pipelines.

About nine miles of pipeline was installed in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and another nine miles of pipeline would be placed in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

As part of the project, certain compressor station facilities were modified and upgraded, in addition to installing two new 4,700 horsepower compressor units at Columbia’s Milford Compressor Station in Pike County, Pennsylvania.

Two new 10,000 horsepower units were installed at the company’s Easton Compressor Station in Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the project in December 2014.

The certificate authorised Columbia to go ahead with construction which began in spring 2015.

Last month, Columbia Gulf Transmission has received approval from FERC for the construction of the Cameron Access Project in Southwest Louisiana with an investment of $310m.