Williams Partners LP reported that construction has begun in Pennsylvania on the greenfield portion of the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project, an expansion of the existing Transco natural gas pipeline that will connect Marcellus supplies with the Mid-Atlantic and southeastern US.
Workers broke ground on Sept. 15 in Columbia and Wyoming counties as site preparation began for two gas compressor facilities. Compressor Station (CS) 605 is a 30,000-hp facility in Clinton Township of Wyoming County being constructed by VEC Inc., while CS 610 is a 40,000-hp facility in Orange Township of Columbia County being constructed by LMC Industrial Contractors Inc.
Construction began last spring on the mainline portion of the Atlantic Sunrise project designed to accommodate bidirectional flow on the existing Transco system. A portion of the capacity created by these mainline modifications was recently placed into service.
Williams notes that it has worked closely with permitting agencies to minimize environmental and stakeholder impacts, making modifications to more than half of the original pipeline route. The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in January issued its final environmental impact statement for the project (OGJ Online, Jan. 3, 2017).
With all necessary permits and construction releases in place, Williams plans to begin the 186-mile pipeline construction phase in Pennsylvania as early as Sept. 25. Work will consist of eight different construction spreads, six of which will be working concurrently in eight Pennsylvania counties.
Pipeline and compressor station construction is anticipated to last 10 months, weather permitting. The nearly $3-billion project, which is designed to increase gas deliveries by 1.7 bcfd, is scheduled to be placed into full service in mid-2018.