Dec 20, 2013 2 min read

Columbia Pipeline Group said Thursday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved construction of the company’s Smithfield III expansion project in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Columbia said in a news release the project is a key feature of its comprehensive West Side Expansion strategy to provide Marcellus and Utica producers with a pathway to southwestern market areas.

Specifically, the FERC approval will allow construction of the following core facilities:

n New Redd Farm Compressor Station. A new compressor station consisting of two 4,700 horsepower Solar Centaur units near Columbia’s existing Redd Farm Regulating Station in Washington County.

n Enhanced Glenville Compressor Station. Installation of two new 7,800 HP Solar Taurus 60 compressor units at Columbia’s existing Glenville CS located in Gilmer County, West Virginia.

“Northeast gas supply is projected to soon outstrip demand,” said Stan Chapman, Columbia’s senior vice president of customer service and marketing. “The Smithfield III Project will help alleviate capacity constraints in the Marcellus production area and will provide producers a pathway out of the region and access to higher valued markets.”

The Smithfield project is part of Columbia’s effort to transform the west side of its Columbia Gas and Columbia Gulf transmission systems in response to supply growth in the Marcellus and Utica production areas. Completed earlier this year, the Columbia Gulf Bi-direction Project enables up to 540,000 dekatherms per day of gas to be transported from its interconnect point at Leach, Ky., to Rayne, La., on the CGT system. Once in service, the Smithfield III Project will enable firm transport capacity of 444,000 dth per day of TCO supplies from compression facilities in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to Leach, Ky.

Columbia will begin construction on the Smithfield III facilities in the spring, in order to meet its targeted in-service date of November.