GILLETTE, Wyo.-
A new pipeline carrying natural gas through Wyoming has helped alleviate the backlog in the state, resulting in higher prices, according to the Wyoming Pipeline Authority.
The first stage of the Rockies Express Pipeline, which eventually will carry natural gas from Colorado and Wyoming to Ohio for distribution to markets in Midwestern and Eastern states, has been completed.
Although that first leg only runs from Wamsutter to the Cheyenne Hub, and currently is carrying gas from Colorado, the effect has been to raise prices throughout the state. Since that first leg was completed Feb. 14, the price of Wyoming natural gas has risen by 50 cents per million cubic feet, according to Brian Jeffries, executive director of the Wyoming Pipeline Authority.
“It’s a pretty dramatic change,” Jeffries said.
For years, officials in Wyoming and other Rocky Mountain states have complained that a lack of pipeline capacity drove down the wholesale price of oil and gas from the region. The Rockies Express is one of several pipeline projects intended to deliver Wyoming’s abundant natural gas to markets where there’s a demand.
As planned, the Rockies Express will be one of the largest natural gas pipelines in North America, stretching more than 1,600 miles and eventually able to transport up to 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
The Wyoming Pipeline Authority initially committed its entire $3 billion bonding authority to helping make sure the Rockies Express got built. But enough investors signed on to the project that the agency never had to sell the bonds.
