Equitrans US Mountain Valley natgas pipe on track for Q1 completion

RGC Resources

31/10/2023 13:22

Oct 31 (Reuters) - Equitrans Midstream  ETRN.N  remains
on track to complete the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline
from West Virginia to Virginia in the first quarter of 2024 at
an estimated cost of $7.2 billion, U.S. energy company Equitrans
Midstream  ETRN.N  said on Tuesday.
    That is the same timeline and cost that the company reported
in mid October, which was a revision from a prior completion
estimate of the end of 2023 and a cost of around $6.6 billion.
    Equitrans spoke about Mountain Valley in its third quarter
earnings report, which beat estimates.
    Mountain Valley is the only big gas pipeline under
construction in the U.S. Northeast. It has encountered numerous
regulatory and court fights that have stopped work several times
since construction began in 2018.
    The pipe, which is key to unlocking gas supplies from
Appalachia, the nation's biggest shale gas-producing region,
needed a bill from the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by
the president and help from the Supreme Court before it could
restart construction.
    In its earnings release, Equitrans said it recorded a $7.5
million expense related to a one-time cash bonus awarded to the
company's CEO, Thomas Karam, for his efforts in the inclusion of
Mountain Valley in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, the
federal law that enabled construction to start again.
    When Mountain Valley started construction in February 2018,
Equitrans estimated the 2.0 billion cubic feet per day project
would cost about $3.5 billion and enter service by late 2018.
    The 303-mile (488-kilometre) Mountain Valley project is
owned by units of Equitrans, the lead partner building the pipe
with a roughly 48.8% interest, NextEra Energy  NEE.N ,
Consolidated Edison  ED.N , AltaGas  ALA.TO  and RGC Resources
 RGCO.O . Equitrans will operate the pipeline.

 (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; editing by Jason Neely)
 ((scott.disavino@thomsonreuters.com; +1 332 219 1922; Reuters
Messaging: scott.disavino.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))