East Tennessee Natural Gas Begins Construction on Patriot Project

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). East Tennessee Natural Gas Company (Houston Texas) has commenced construction on its Patriot Project in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. The $289.351 million expansion project will be phased in over the next two to three years and will involve new compressor stations, compression additions to existing stations, and new pipe.

The Patriot Project will ultimately allow East Tennessee to transport 510 mmscfd of natural gas and transform what is presently a minor system into a mainline system. When completed the expansion will provide fuel for new electric generating plants, provide additional gas supplies to existing local distribution companies, and bring natural gas service to portions of southwestern Virginia for the first time. The scope of the Patriot Project has changed over time and its final form is somewhat of a marriage with the previously planned TVA Project.

East Tennessee awarded the pipeline construction contract to Murphy Brothers Incorporated (East Moline, Illinois) and the compression facilities were awarded in turn-key fashion to Bi-Con Services Incorporated (Derwent Ohio).

Phase I pipeline mileage to be constructed in 2003 include several 24" diameter loops in Tennessee, the replacement of 24.7-miles of 10" & 8" pipeline with new 24" pipeline near the Glade Springs Compressor Station in Virginia, and 95-miles of new 24" pipeline from Rural Retreat Virginia to Rockingham North Carolina.

Click on the image at right to view the Patriot Project Details Table

The pipeline loops, replacements & extensions for all phases of construction will total $202.335 million of the total project cost with phase I pipeline construction consuming $133.620 million. Compression facilities to be constructed during Phase I includes constructing the new compressor stations 3105 near Dickson Springs, 3108 at Harriman and 3306 at Flatwood Tennessee and a compressor addition at the existing Rural Retreat Compressor Station in Virginia. The new stations as well as the unit addition will be utilize a single Solar Taurus 70-T10302S turbine package as the prime mover for the centrifugal compressor packages. Total compression facilities for all phases will total $83.554 million of the project costs.

East Tennessee plans on completing Phase I by November of 2003 and all phases by November of 2005. East Tennessee Natural Gas Company is a subsidiary is a division of Duke Energy (Charlotte, North Carolina) (NYSE/DUK) and operates a network of 1,150 miles of natural gas pipeline divided into there lines (3100, 3200, & 3300) in the states of Tennessee & Virginia with a peak capacity of 700 mmscf/d and compression supplied by 27 existing stations utilizing mainly turbines as the prime mover.