EIA expects record natural gas pipeline capacity gains in Northeast

The U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) forecasts that record gains in natural pipeline capacity in the Northeast this year will address limited takeaway pipeline capacity in the Marcellus and Utica basins of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia that has restricted access to new markets.

Projects scheduled for completion by the end of 2018 will bring takeaway capacity in the Northeast to 23 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). That would increase total takeaway capacity by more than 6 Bcf/d gain from 2017, and by more than three times the takeaway capacity in 2014.

“Currently, the growth of natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica basins in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia is constrained by the lack of available takeaway pipeline capacity to move it to new markets,” an EIA report stated. “As new pipeline projects come online, they will create an outlet for increased production, providing natural gas to demand markets in the Midwest, the Southeast, eastern Canada and the Gulf Coast.”

The Columbia Pipeline Group has undertaken two expansion projects, Leach Xpress and Mountaineer Xpress, that would add 4.2 Bcf/d of takeaway capacity in the Northeast. Up to 2 Bcf/d of natural gas from the two pipelines can be routed directly to the Gulf Coast by way of expansion projects on the Columbia Gulf pipeline. Another expansion project on the WB Xpress will increase mainline capacity to the Midwest.

The Transcontinental Gas Pipeline is also tied to three projects that will add more than 3 Bcf/d of capacity from Pennsylvania to West Virginia, the Atlantic Sunrise, the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Equitrans Expansion.

A new pipeline spanning from West Virginia to the Transco system in southern Virginia, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, will add 2 Bcf/d. Additionally, phase 2 of the Rover Pipeline will add 3.25 Bcf/d in capacity to Midwestern markets and the Dawn hub in Ontario, Canada.