Article published November 19, 2009
New natural gas pipeline boosts Ohio
Rockies Express stabilizes supply, levels price range
By JON CHAVEZ
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER
It drew little fanfare, but with the flip of a switch last week, natural gas from Colorado and Wyoming begin flowing into Ohio.
Natural gas from the $4.4 billion Rockies Express pipeline had been flowing into a terminal at Lebanon, Ohio, between Cincinnati and Dayton since June.
But a week ago, the pipeline’s endpoint at Clarington, near Ohio’s eastern border with Pennsylvania, went fully operational, making natural gas from the Rocky Mountain states available at several delivery points in Ohio, Rockies Express spokesman Allen Fore said.
Robert Stitt Black, president of Waterville Gas Co., said even the partial amount of Rockies Express gas that began flowing to western Ohio in June had an immediate impact on prices.
“What it has done is it has leveled prices throughout the country,” he said. “Rockies Express has made natural gas almost a national market.”
Rates charged locally by Columbia Gas of Ohio were $1.43 per 100 cubic feet in July, 2008; 94 cents in January; 68 cents in July, and will be 49 cents next month.
With the connection of the 1,700-mile Rockies pipeline to Ohio, supplies to local gas utilities are much better, Mr. Black said. “It’s also making the offshore hurricanes issue less and less of a factor,” he said.
Mike Anderson, director of supply planning for Columbia Gas of Ohio, said his firm buys some supplies from pipeline pools, which include gas from the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, Texas, and now the Rocky Mountains. So, the new pipeline is bound to benefit area homeowners and businesses, he added. “Rockies Express is really competing against the more traditional sources of supply,” he said. “Instead of buying gas from the far south and transporting it up, some people are now buying what’s coming into Ohio.”
Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.
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