September 2020, Vol. 247, No. 9

Projects

Mountain Valley

U.S. pipeline company Equitrans Midstream Corp. said it still expects to complete the $5.4 billion Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia in early 2021. 

Equitrans said in its second-quarter earnings statement that the project’s costs could rise by 5%, to around $5.7 billion, if it needs “to adapt the construction plan for potential complex judicial decisions and regulatory changes.” 

When Equitrans started construction in February 2018, it estimated Mountain Valley would cost about $3.5 billion and be completed by the end of 2018. But successful legal challenges to federal permits resulted in lengthy delays and higher costs for Mountain Valley.

Equitrans said it expects to receive new approvals soon from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that will enable it to finish building the last 8% of the project.

The 303-mile (488-km) pipeline is designed to deliver 2 Bcf/d (57 MMcm/d) from the Marcellus and Utica Shales in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to consumers in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.