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Williams' board of directors has voted to approve the company's Bluegrass Pipeline project.
Williams is engaged in development work on the proposed natural-gas-liquids pipeline, which has a targeted in-service date of late 2015. The Bluegrass Pipeline will connect supply from the Marcellus and Utica shale-gas areas in the U.S. Northeast to growing petrochemical and export markets in the U.S. Gulf Coast. The pipeline also will connect NGL supply with the developing petrochemical market in the U.S. Northeast.
Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP on May 28 announced they had formalized key joint-venture agreements tied to the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline and related fractionation, storage and export projects.
Phase one of the project will provide producers with 200,000 barrels per day of mixed NGL take-away capacity in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Phase two will increase capacity to 400,000 barrels per day to meet market demand, primarily by adding additional liquids pumping capacity. The pipeline will deliver mixed NGLs from these producing areas to new fractionation and storage facilities, providing connectivity to petrochemical facilities and product pipelines along the coasts of Louisiana and Texas.
The Bluegrass Pipeline includes construction of a new NGL pipeline from producing areas in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to an interconnect with Boardwalk's Texas Gas Transmission, LLC system (Texas Gas) in Hardinsburg, Ky. From that point to Eunice, La., a portion of Texas Gas would be converted from natural gas service to NGL service. The joint venture also will include constructing a new large-scale fractionation plant and expanding natural gas liquids storage facilities in Louisiana and constructing a new pipeline connecting these facilities to the converted Texas Gas line in the Eunice, La., area. Williams and Boardwalk also are exploring development of a new export liquefied petroleum gas terminal and related facilities on the Gulf Coast to provide customers access to international markets.
By combining new construction with an existing pipeline, Williams and Boardwalk believe that the Bluegrass Pipeline should be placed into service and begin serving customers sooner than other options. Williams and Boardwalk are engaged in comprehensive project development planning including permitting, public consultation and right-of-way acquisition. Williams and Boardwalk expect that the planned project should be placed into service in late 2015, assuming all necessary conditions are met.
Completion of this project is subject to all necessary or required approvals, elections, and actions, as well as execution of formal customer commitments.