Williams Cos. brought three pipeline projects into service earlier than expected during fourth-quarter 2020. These projects included:
• Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. (Transco) LLC’s Leidy South, an expansion of Williams’ existing Pennsylvania energy infrastructure, brought 125 MMcfd of capacity on line in November with the remaining 457 MMcfd expected to be complete in 2021. The expansion connects Appalachian natural gas supplies with demand centers along the Atlantic Coast and has received state and federal permits, including a partial US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission notice to proceed.
• Southeastern Trail, a Transco transmission expansion project to serve growing demand in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern US, began partial service of 150 MMcfd in November and an additional 80 MMcfd in December. The balance of the 296 MMcfd project is expected to come online first-quarter 2021.
• Bluestem Pipeline, a 120,000 b/d mixed NGL pipeline, began service in December 2020, 2 months ahead of schedule. Bluestem runs 188 miles from Williams’ 100,000-b/d Conway, Kan., fractionator and the southern terminus of the 245,000 b/d Williams-Oneok Partners joint-venture Overland Pass pipeline to an interconnect in central Oklahoma with Targa’s Grand Prix pipeline for further shipment to Mont Belvieu, Tex.
Targa is building a 110-mile Grand Prix extension from southern Oklahoma to the Bluestem interconnect. Targa said in November 2020 as part of its third-quarter earnings report that it expected the extension to be operational by end-2020.