This month, new construction announcements are concentrated in the ever-popular Marcellus shale and the new shale on the block, the Utica. Those plays and imported Canadian crude are the recipients of several competing pipeline projects to take product to the Gulf Coast.

Enterprise Products Partners LP is planning the start of a binding open commitment period for capacity on a proposed pipeline designed to transport ethane from the Marcellus and Utica shale regions in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The partnership has already met with interested shippers willing to execute long-term contracts to support the project, and expects sufficient market support during the open commitment period.

The 1,230-mile pipeline would have an initial capacity of 125,000 barrels (bbl.) per day, and can be quickly expanded to meet increased shipper demand. The pipeline would deliver ethane to Enterprise's natural gas liquids storage complex at Mont Belvieu, Texas. Through connections at Mont Belvieu, ethane production from the Marcellus and Utica shales would ultimately have direct or indirect access to every ethylene plant in the U.S.

In addition, Enterprise and Enbridge Inc. plan to build a 500-mile pipeline to move crude from Cushing, Oklahoma, to refineries on the coast. The proposed Wrangler pipeline will be capable of moving as much as 800,000 bbl. per day and will be in service by mid-2013.

The pipeline represents the first step in an effort by Enbridge to bring Canadian crude, stored at Cushing, to the gulf. The system would compete with TransCanada Corp.'s proposed $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline, which aims to take crude from Alberta's oil sands to Texas refineries.

Elsewhere, in a bid to expand the company's gathering and processing presence in the Midcontinent area, Enogex recently signed agreements to acquire natural gas midstream pipeline assets with dedicated rights to gather and process production from a large acreage position in the Granite Wash, Tonkawa and Marmaton plays of northwestern Oklahoma. The company also approved the further expansion of the new Wheeler County, Texas, processing plant and the construction of a new 200 million cubic feet per day per day processing plant.

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