Williams Cos. Inc. and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP have suspended capital investment in their proposed Bluegrass NGL pipeline, primarily due to insufficient firm customer commitments. The companies continue to talk with potential customers regarding the scale and timing of demand for services and the firm contractual commitments needed to support any future investment.
The project is designed to connect NGL produced in the Marcellus-Utica shales in the US Northeast with domestic and export markets in the US Gulf Coast. The companies had expected Bluegrass to enter service second-half 2015 at 200,000 b/d (OGJ, Feb. 2, 2014, p. 93).
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and MarkWest Utica EMG LLC have also proposed a pipeline project from the northeast to Mont Belvieu, the Utica Marcellus Texas Pipeline, expected to enter service second-quarter 2016 at 150,000 b/d. Both Bluegrass and Utica Marcellus Texas would be expandable to 400,000 b/d.
Enterprise Products Partners LP, meanwhile, is already shipping on its 1,230-mile Appalachia-to-Texas ethane pipeline (ATEX Express).
Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].