Energy companies behind the $4 billion Rockies Express are looking at extending it to Pennsylvania as interest grows in the new pipeline to deliver natural gas to East Coast markets.
ConocoPhillips said Friday that it has joined the ownership group of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Sempra Pipelines & Storage by exercising an option to acquire a 24 percent interest in the 1,663-mile project. It plans to acquire an additional 1 percent interest after construction is complete.
“We believe this project is a strategic addition to our natural-gas business and will provide ConocoPhillips and others a long-term outlet for delivering Rocky Mountain production to the upper Midwest and Eastern United States,” Randy Limbacher, a company executive vice president, said in a statement.
A ConocoPhillips spokesman declined additional comment.
With construction underway and capacity already sold out, the companies are gauging interest in extending the pipeline to Oakford, Pa., project spokesman Larry Pierce said. “Virtually all of the capacity sold out back in February,” he said.
Initial response to the proposed extension has been good, but the companies haven’t made a final decision, he said.
The Rockies Express pipeline will carry about 1.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas every day from northern Colorado to eastern Ohio.
The first phase, a 136-mile segment from Meeker in northern Colorado to Sweetwater County, Wyo., has been completed and initial service has begun.
Construction on the second phase, 192 miles from Sweetwater County to Weld County, is scheduled to begin this summer with service to start in January.
An energy boom is in full swing in Colorado thanks to skyrocketing prices and technology that make the resources easier to retrieve. Drilling has slowed in other natural-gas fields, and Hurricane Katrina forced Gulf Coast-oriented companies to consider other options.
Based in Houston, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners owns or operates more than 25,000 miles of pipelines and 145 terminals. Its general partner is owned by Kinder Morgan Inc.
A unit of Sempra Energy, San Diego-based Sempra Pipelines & Storage operates natural-gas pipelines and storage facilities in Mexico and the United States.
