Marcellus Shale gas producer Coterra Energy confirmed they are part of talks currently underway to resume plans to build the Constitution pipeline that would alleviate takeaway constraints north of Pennsylvania.
The 124-mile line was to originate from Coterra property in Susquehanna County in northeastern Pennsylvania, terminating in Schoharie County, New York, where it was to connect with existing gas infrastructure, sending gas deeper into New England.
“We're watching and participating in that conversation seriously,” Tom Jorden, Coterra chairman, CEO and president, told investors in a May 6 call.
The 650 MMcf/d would have supplied gas-short New England, which imports LNG, including from Russia at times.
The project’s lead developer, midstream operator Williams Cos., was joined in the project by Coterra (then Cabot Oil & Gas) and utilities Duke Energy and AltaGas.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved it in 2014 but New York authorities blocked it, using water and other laws, resulting in Williams canceling it Feb. 24, 2020, after lengthy court battles.
Jorden said in the call, “We think that issue will resolve itself here in the next few months.”
The Appalachian Basin is constrained to roughly 36 Bcf/d of output as new pipe out of the Marcellus and Utica shale gas fields have met other regulatory and court impasses.
An act of Congress was needed to get the Mountain Valley Pipeline through a few-mile finish line to get Appalachian gas to the southeastern U.S.
Estimates are the basin could produce 60 Bcf/d if the midstream bottleneck was resolved.
Jorden said, “We're looking at [Constitution] as a potential future opportunity for growth in the Marcellus.”
President Trump put the pipeline back into national news in February, calling for its completion.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told energy conference attendees in Houston, “If we just had another 124 miles of pipeline in New York, then we would have all of New England with lower electrical prices and they could be burning clean U.S. natural gas from ourselves.”
He added, “We will step in to make sure we can deliver that.”
Williams President and CEO Alan Armstrong said at the conference, “We absolutely intend to try to get Constitution built, but obviously we’re going to be working to try to gain the states’ support and the local support in those areas as well.”
In announcing the project’s cancelation in 2020, Williams reported, “While Constitution did receive positive outcomes in recent court proceedings and permit applications, the underlying risk-adjusted return for this greenfield pipeline project has diminished in such a way that further development is no longer supported.”
It added that, “as communities and leaders recognize the important role natural gas has played in U.S. emissions reductions—and recognize the ability to further lower emissions through use of natural gas in the future—we stand ready to deliver.”