January 2018, Vol. 245, No. 1
Features
Williams Partners Begins Service on Virginia Southside II Expansion, Provides Updates on Ongoing Projects
Metering and compression facilities comprise a major portion of Transco’s Virginia Southside II expansion.
Williams Partners L.P. placed its Virginia Southside II expansion project, the fifth of Transco’s “Big 5” expansions into service on Dec. 5. These five, fully contracted expansion projects (Gulf Trace, Hillabee Phase 1, Dalton, New York Bay and Virginia Southside II) combine to add more than 2.8 Bcf/d of firm transportation capacity to the Transco pipeline system this year, increasing Transco’s design capacity by nearly 25%.
“The Virginia Southside II project was placed into service on time and under budget and highlights our continued execution on growth projects,” said Alan Armstrong, CEO of Williams Partners’ general partner.
The Virginia Southside II project expands the capacity of Williams Partners’ Transco pipeline system by 250 MMcf/d to supply additional service to markets in southern Virginia, including deliverability to Dominion Virginia Power’s new 1,580-MW combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant in Greensville County, when that plant comes on line.
The $191 million project includes the new 4-mile (6-km) Greensville Lateral in Virginia, as well as metering and compressor station facilities in Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The project will boost flows from Transco’s compressor station 210 pooling point in Mercer County, NJ and from its compressor station 165 pooling point in Pittsylvania County, VA. to a proposed delivery point on the Greenville Lateral.
The $1.3 billion Greensville County power plant will acquire full transportation rights on the Virginia Southside II expansion once the plant begins service, according to filings with FERC. Dominion began construction on the plant in June 2016, and expects it to begin commercial operations in late 2018.
Williams Partners is also delivering on project execution as planned for 2018. Construction continues on schedule in Pennsylvania on the greenfield portion of the Atlantic Sunrise project. The partnership is targeting a mid-2018 in-service date for this expansion of the existing Transco natural gas pipeline which is designed to increase deliveries by 1.7 Bcf/d as it connects Marcellus gas supplies with markets in the Mid-Atlantic and southeastern U.S.
Construction also continues on Phase 2 of Williams Partners’ Garden State Expansion project. After placing Phase 1 of the project in-service on Sept. 9, 2017, the partnership is targeting an in-service date of second-quarter 2018 for Phase 2, which includes a new compressor station on the Transco Trenton Woodbury Lateral in Burlington County, NJ. When placed into full service, this fully contracted expansion project will deliver up to 180 MMcf/d of additional natural gas capacity to New Jersey Natural Gas Co.
The trend of effective execution in permitting and regulatory processes on Transco projects also continues. On Nov. 21, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity authorizing Williams Partners’ Gulf Connector Expansion project. This project is a 475 MMcf/d expansion of the Transco pipeline system in Texas and Louisiana to connect U.S. natural gas supplies with global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets.
Constructed in two phases, the Gulf Connector Expansion project is designed to deliver 75 MMcf/d of natural gas to Freeport LNG Development, L.P.’s liquefaction project and 400 MMcf/d to Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi liquefaction terminal with both phases expected to be placed in service in the first half of 2019.
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