November 1, 2017

FERC Approves Faster Drilling Monitor For Rover

On Tuesday, the Federal Energy Resources Commission (FERC) approved changes to the Rover Pipeline’s plans for horizontal directional drilling (HDD). Previously, Rover was using an annular pressure monitoring (APM) tool, which resulted in a range of 18.2-74.5% downtime per HDD every week for Rover.  As Natural Gas Intel writes:

“Citing reviews from staff and third-party expertise provided by J.D. Hair & Associates Inc., FERC said, ‘We find that the alternative you propose is justified and reasonable and will provide necessary protection to waterbodies and other resources during HDD activities.’”

The first portion of Rover, phase 1A, came online in late August of this year, and is already transporting domestically produced natural gas from Ohio to other important downstream markets.  Energy Transfer Partners, the company backing the Rover Pipeline, is now aiming to bring phase 1B online by the end of this year.

Rover will have the capacity to deliver more than three billion cubic feet of natural gas every day once construction is completed and the pipeline is brought into full service. CEPI is thrilled with FERC’s approval, which will speed this process up and bring much needed expansion to our current pipeline capacity.