Enbridge, DTE to finish Ohio-Ontario Nexus gas pipe in Q3 2018

Canadian energy company Enbridge Inc and Michigan's DTE Energy Co plan to complete their $2 billion Nexus natural gas pipeline from Ohio to Ontario late in the third quarter of 2018, they said on Thursday.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved construction of the pipeline on Wednesday. Once complete, it will move up to 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale formation in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia to the U.S. Midwest and eastern Canada.

One bcfd is enough gas to supply about 5 million U.S. homes.

The approval "keeps the project on track to meet its targeted in-service late in the third quarter of 2018," Enbridge spokesman Adam Parker said in an email.

The companies said the pipeline would support growing demand for gas in the U.S. Midwest and eastern Canada and help offset the decline in traditional western Canadian supplies available to service the markets.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)