Enbridge seeks to put more of Ohio-Michigan NEXUS natgas pipe in service

Canadian energy company Enbridge Inc on Monday sought permission from U.S. energy regulators to put more of its $2.6 billion NEXUS natural gas pipeline from Ohio to Michigan into service.

In a filing with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Enbridge asked to place into service the Wadsworth compressor station in Medina County, Ohio, and the Clyde compressor station in Sandusky County, Ohio. The company said it mechanically completed both stations last week.

NEXUS is one of several gas pipelines designed to connect growing output in the Marcellus and Utica shale basins in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio with customers in other parts of the United States and Canada.

Earlier in October, FERC allowed Enbridge to put facilities into service that would enable the pipeline to transport about 0.97 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd).

One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to fuel about 5 million homes for a day.

Once the 255-mile (410-km) NEXUS project is fully in service, it will be able to carry up to 1.5 bcfd of gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale fields to the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast and Ontario in Canada.

NEXUS is a partnership between Enbridge and Michigan energy company DTE Energy Inc .

Earlier in October, Enbridge said it put part of its $200 million Texas Eastern Appalachian Lease (TEAL) gas pipeline project into service.

TEAL is an expansion of Enbridge's Texas Eastern system designed to deliver 0.95 bcfd of gas to NEXUS.

When it started construction of the NEXUS pipe in late 2017, Enbridge estimated the TEAL and NEXUS projects would enter service in the third quarter of 2018.

Enbridge said it completed the NEXUS project in September when it asked FERC for permission to put part of the pipeline into service.

New pipelines built to remove gas from the Marcellus and Utica basins have enabled shale drillers to boost output in the Appalachia region to a forecast record high of around 29.8 bcfd in November from 26.1 bcfd during the same month a year ago.

That represents about 36 percent of the nation's total dry gas output of 81.1 bcfd expected on average in 2018. The Appalachia region produced just 1.6 bcfd, or 3 percent of the country's total production, in 2008.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino Editing by Tom Brown)