Midstream - Pipelines | General

Kinder Morgan Holds Open Season for UTOPIA Pipeline

Share Print Bookmark    |    Thursday,September 04,2014

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. announced the launch of a binding open season to solicit commitments for the previously announced Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access (UTOPIA) project, which will provide opportunities to transport ethane and ethane-propane mixtures from the prolific Utica shale area (click here to access the project via Shale Experts' Infrastructure Database).

Under the UTOPIA project, Kinder Morgan Cochin will develop, construct, own and operate a 240-mile, 12-inch diameter pipeline from Harrison County, Ohio, to Kinder Morgan’s Cochin Pipeline near Riga, Michigan, where the company would then move product eastward to Windsor, Ontario, Canada. UTOPIA would transport previously refined or fractionated natural gas liquids (NGLs), including ethane and propane, with an initial 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of capacity, which is expandable to more than 75,000 bpd. Pending a successful open season and timely receipt of necessary permitting and regulatory approvals, the new pipeline is expected to be in service by early 2018.

Don Lindley, president of Natural Gas Liquids, Products Pipelines for KMP, commented: "We are pleased to offer this proposal, which will complement our existing transportation solutions for NGLs produced in the Utica. The UTOPIA project will enable us to continue to provide a pipeline transportation solution into the growing Ontario market."

Additional documents and details related to the open season will be made available upon completion of a confidentiality agreement. The binding open season begins Sept. 5, 2014, at 8 a.m. Central Time. Those interested in obtaining more detailed information about this open season can contact Karen Kabin, vice president of business development in Kinder Morgan’s Products Pipelines group, at Karen_Kabin@kindermorgan.com or (713) 369-9268.