Williams (NYSE: WMB) today announced that it is initiating a binding open season from March 8 to April 8, 2019, for Regional Energy Access, an incremental expansion of the Transco interstate pipeline to provide firm natural gas transportation capacity to markets in the northeastern United States as early as November 2022.

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Image: Pipeline system. Photo: courtesy of supakitmod/Freedigitalphotos.net.

Regional Energy Access is being designed to provide up to one million dekatherms per day of firm transportation capacity to the Transco pipeline’s northeast market, including existing Pennsylvania and New Jersey local distribution companies and power generators. Demand for natural gas in the Northeast continues to rise as businesses rely on natural gas to help meet clean air goals.

“Regional Energy Access is a cost-effective expansion along an existing Transco corridor that will ultimately deliver more than a billion cubic feet of new natural gas supply with minimal environmental footprint,” said Scott Hallam, senior vice president of Williams’ Atlantic-Gulf Operating Area. “The project will expand existing infrastructure to meet the region’s growing demand for natural gas while helping reduce air emissions.”

Regional Energy Access minimizes environmental impacts by maximizing the use of existing Transco pipeline infrastructure and rights of way. The preliminary design of the project consists of additional compression and selected pipeline loop segments along the existing Transco pipeline corridor. Although the final capacity, scope and cost of the project will be determined by the results of the open season, it is anticipated that the project will include approximately 34 miles of pipeline looping and additional compression along existing Transco facilities.

The project will connect robust Marcellus supply from receipt points along the Transco pipeline’s Leidy Line in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, to delivery points in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including the Station 210 Zone 6 Pool in Mercer County, New Jersey, the Lower Mud Run Road interconnect in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and along Transco’s mainline to Station 200, Marcus Hook lateral and Trenton Woodbury lateral.

The proposed project will be subject to approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other agencies.

Source: Company Press Release