Kinder Morgan’s $500m worth Utopia products pipeline has commenced operations, transporting ethane from the US state of Ohio to the Canadian state of Ontario.
The pipeline system, which broke ground in the first quarter of 2017, spans about 434.5km between Harrison County in Ohio and Windsor in Ontario. It is expected to help address the increasing demand for Ohio’s Utica Shale energy by safely transporting refined or fractionated products to its customers.
Designed to have an initial capacity of 50,000 barrels per day (bpd), the Utopia pipeline can be expanded to over 75,000bpd through the construction of additional pump stations.
The 12inch Utopia pipeline has been connected with an existing Kinder Morgan pipeline. It will use the pipeline and its facilities to transport ethane and ethane-propane mixtures eastward to Windsor.
As per the original plan of the pipeline stakeholders, the ethane and ethane-propane mixtures are to be used mainly as a feedstock for producing plastics.
Kinder Morgan natural gas liquids, products pipelines president Don Lindley said: “The project team, in coordination with local, state and federal agencies, has done a tremendous job developing a project that provides ethane takeaway capacity from the Utica shale to the growing petrochemical industry while also maintaining an open dialogue with the local communities to support their needs and consider alternatives.
“This interaction and creativity developed a project that worked for multiple stakeholders.”
The Utopia pipeline is supported by a long-term transportation agreement signed by Kinder Morgan with NOVA Chemicals.
Earlier in the week, Kinder Morgan’s Canadian subsidiary revealed that its C$7.4bn ($5.5bn) Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project will be delayed further by three months.
Commissioning of the pipeline project in Canada has been now pushed to December 2020 owing to regulatory hurdles, which in turn have been caused by persistent opposition from locals and environmentalists.