By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 17 -- Columbia Gas Transmission, a unit of NiSource Inc. and operator of the Millennium pipeline, is planning a two-phase delivery expansion whereby Buffalo, NY-based National Fuel Gas Co.'s Empire State Pipeline will be a key upstream supply link and Brooklyn-based KeySpan Corp., a major new anchor customer. KeySpan plans to subscribe to as much as 150 MMcfd of natural gas transportation service on Millennium.
Phase 1, which will transport 500 MMcfd of natural gas from the Dawn, Ont., trading hub and several supply and storage basins, is expected to be in service by November 2006. It includes the upgrade of a 186 mile Corning-Ramapo, NY, pipeline section on Millennium, which will replace an existing Columbia Gas line, and an 83 mile extension of the 24-in. Empire system from a point near Rochester to Corning, NY. Empire connects to the TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. system at Chippawa on the US-Canada border.
Phase 2, which involves a crossing of the Hudson River and link to the New York City market, is on hold pending an appeal in US Federal District Court of a US Department of Commerce ruling relating to the crossing.