Rockies Express Gas Pipeline

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Rockies Express Gas Pipeline (REX) is an operating natural gas pipeline system.

Location

The pipeline runs from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to eastern Ohio.

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Project Details

• Operator: Rockies Express Pipeline LLC
• Owner: Tallgrass Energy Partners (75%), Phillips 66(25%)
• Parent Company: Tallgrass Energy Partners (75%), Phillips 66 (25%)
• Capacity: 4,050 million cubic feet per day
• Length: 1,685 miles / 2,712 km
• Diameter: 24, 36, 42 inches
• Status: Operating
• Cost: US$5.8 billion
• Start Year: 2009
• Financing:

Background

The pipeline system consists of three sections running through eight states. The Rockies Express was one of the largest natural gas pipeline networks in the U.S. and was developed in phases. The final section of the pipeline was completed on 12 November 2009.

The pipeline raised capital for 'ongoing activities' via a US$550 million bond issue in April 2019, arranged by Barclays, MUFG, Royal Bank of Canada, PNC Bank and TD Securities, and via a US$400 million bond issue in January 2020, arranged by Bank of America, Capital One Bank, Citizens Bank, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, MUFG, Scotiabank, Wells Fargo and US Bancorp.

Technical description

The diameter of the 1,679 mile-long pipeline system varies between 36 and 42 inches (910 and 1,070 mm), being primarily 42 inches (1,100 mm). The capacity of the pipeline is 3.6 billion cubic feet per day (37 billion cubic metres per annum). It operates at a maximum allowable operating pressure of 1,480 pounds psi. The initial cost of the pipeline was around US$5billion.

REX — Entrega (Zone 1)

REX — Entrega is the 328 mile-long former Entrega Pipeline between the Meeker Hub in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, and the Cheyenne Hub in Weld County, Colorado. Construction of this pipeline was authorized in August 2005. The pipeline project was acquired by Rockies Express Pipeline, LLC in February 2006. This phase was developed in two segments. The construction of the 136 mile-long 36-inch diameter segment from the Meeker Hub to the Wamsutter Hub in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, was completed in January 2006 and has been in service since February 2006. The construction of the 192 mile-long 42-inch diameter segment from the Wamsutter Hub to the Cheyenne Hub in Weld County, Colorado was completed in February 2006 and has been in service since. This phase had combined construction cost of approximately $580 million and resulted in a capacity of 750 Mmcf/day.

The Entrega pipeline was originally owned by Entrega Gas Pipeline, a subsidiary of EnCana Corporation. The Entrega pipeline was incorporated into the Rockies Express project when Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and Sempra Energy acquired Entrega Gas Pipeline in February 2006.

REX — West (Zone 2)

REX — West is a 713 mile-long 42-inch diameter pipeline from Weld County, Colorado, to Audrain County, Missouri. It has a 5 mile-long 24-inch branch connecting the pipeline with the Williams Energy owned Echo Springs Processing Plant.

On 31 May 2006, the Rockies Express Pipeline filed an application to construct and operate this section. The construction approval was issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on 20 April 2007. The first 503 mile-long segment of this pipeline was commissioned on 27 December 2007, and the second 214 mile-long segment was commissioned on 16 May 2008. It is in full service since 16 May 2008. The cost of construction of this phase was $1,930 million and resulted in an additional capacity of 1500 Mmcf/day.

REX — East (Zone 3)

REX — East is a 683 mile-long 42-inch pipeline from Audrain County, Missouri, to Clarington in Monroe County, Ohio. The Rockies Express Pipeline filed an application to construct and operate this section on 30 April 2007 and the FERC issued approval on 30 May 2008. This phase was constructed in two segments. The 444-mile 42-inch leg was completed in June 2009 and added an additional capacity of 1600 Mmcf/day. The 195-mile 42-inch leg was completed in November 2009, increasing the capacity to 1800 Mmcf/day. The cost of this phase was around $3,132 million.

Partnership

The pipeline was operated by Rockies Express Pipeline, LLC, a partnership between Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Phillips 66 and Sempra Energy. In February 2006, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and Sempra Energy acquired Entrega Gas Pipeline Inc., from EnCana Corporation. In June 2006, ConocoPhillips acquired 24% of the project. ConocoPhillips spun off the downstream part of its business in May 2012.

Tallgrass Energy formed in 2012 purchased Kinder Morgan’s 50 percent stake in REX. In March 2016, Tallgrass Development LP acquired Sempra's 25% stake in Rockies Express Pipeline LLC for $440 million, increasing Tallgrass' interest in the pipeline to 75%.

Environmental concerns

The pipeline project has raised some environmental concerns. Ohio officials have asked to avoid crossing the Big Darby Creek in Pickaway County, Ohio|Pickaway County and the Little Miami River in Warren County, Ohio|Warren County within Caesar Creek State Park because of the risk of harming fish and other wildlife posed by drilling the pipeline beneath the rivers.

A Lawsuit by American Energy Corporation was filed against REX over the disruption of coal mine owned by AEC beneath REX. In light of past pipeline accidents, where subsiding abandoned mines have caused pipelines to fail, the wisdom of the location of that part of the REX pipeline is of concern to pipeline industry critics.

Expansion Projects

Seneca Lateral

In June 2014, REX completed construction of the Seneca Lateral and in January 2015, the Seneca Lateral was placed into full service with the ability to move approximately 0.6 billion cubic feet per day onto the REX mainline in Zone 3.

• Operator: Rockies Express Pipeline LLC
• Owner: Tallgrass Energy Partners (75%), Phillips 66(25%)
• Parent Company: Tallgrass Energy Partners (75%), Phillips 66 (25%)
• Capacity: 600 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d)
• Length: 14 miles
• Diameter: 24 inches
• Cost: US$75 million
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2015

Zone 3 East-to-West Project

The construction of this expansion was completed in September 2015, and REX placed its Zone 3 East-to-West Project into service, making Zone 3 of the mainline fully bi-directional with the ability to move approximately 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of Appalachian production to Midcontinent markets.

• Operator: Rockies Express Pipeline LLC
• Owner: Tallgrass Energy Partners (75%), Phillips 66(25%)
• Parent Company: Tallgrass Energy Partners (75%), Phillips 66 (25%)
• Capacity: 1200 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d)
• Length:
• Diameter:
• Cost: US$79 million
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2015

Pipeline Zone 3 Capacity Enhancement

REX filed for authorization with FERC for a 0.8 billion cubic feet per day expansion by reversal of its Zone 3 east-to-west capacity, via compression additions. This project was completed in December 2016.

• Operator: Rockies Express Pipeline LLC
• Owner: Tallgrass Energy Partners (75%), Phillips 66(25%)
• Parent Company: Tallgrass Energy Partners (75%), Phillips 66 (25%)
• Capacity: 800 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d)
• Length:
• Diameter:
• Cost: US$532 million
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2017

Cheyenne Hub Enhancement Project

The Cheyenne Hub Enhancement Expansion, a natural gas transportation capacity expansion to the Rockies Express Gas Pipeline (REX), applied for approval with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FER) in 2019. The construction of the expansion was completed in June 2020. It increased capacity in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois adding additional west-to-east capacity on REX in conjunction with the larger Cheyenne Hub Enhancement Project.

• Operator: Rockies Express Pipeline LLC
• Owner: Tallgrass Energy Partners (75%), Phillips 66(25%)
• Parent Company: Tallgrass Energy Partners (75%), Phillips 66 (25%)
• Capacity: 1,000 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d)
• Length: no new length
• Diameter:
• Cost: US$185 million
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2020

Articles and resources

External articles

Wikipedia also has an article on Rockies Express Pipeline (Rockies Express Pipeline). This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License].'