Leading Players Spectra Energy, American Electric Power and Chesapeake Energy Announce an Agreement of Intent to Develop Ohio Infrastructure Project
Ohio Pipeline Energy Network (OPEN) Project to Connect Emerging Utica Shale Gas Supplies to Power Generation Markets in the Midwest, South and Northeast U.S.
HOUSTON, Dec. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Spectra Energy Corp's
Texas Eastern Transmission, LP (Texas Eastern), American Electric Power and Chesapeake Energy Marketing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corporation , today announced their intention to advance the development of the Ohio Pipeline Energy Network (OPEN) project, a proposed expansion of the Texas Eastern pipeline system that will connect Ohio's Utica and Marcellus shale gas supplies with the fast-growing markets attached to the Texas Eastern system, in particular natural gas-fired power generation.(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20061030/CLM051LOGO )
The OPEN project brings together the largest producer and leaseholder in the Utica shale play, the largest power generator in the region and the premier pipeline company with over 60 years of safe and reliable operational history in the state of Ohio. The project will involve approximately 70 miles of new pipeline and create an additional 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of transportation capacity to serve local distribution companies, industrial users and gas-fired power generators in the Ohio market, as well as markets along the Texas Eastern system.
The project is anticipated to deliver substantial investment in energy infrastructure in the state through mineral leasing and development and construction of pipeline gathering and transportation infrastructure, as well as create significant jobs and lasting tax revenue for the state.
As part of the project, American Electric Power continues to invest in Ohio and will pursue transportation capacity that would enable the company to connect Ohio gas supplies with its gas-fired power plants in the Midwest. Chesapeake, which holds 1.5 million net acres, by far the largest acreage position in the Utica play, is pursuing capacity to access the substantial Texas Eastern markets spanning from the Gulf of Mexico to the Northeast U.S.
'We are excited about the production potential of the Utica and Marcellus shale in Ohio and the ability to serve communities with clean-burning and domestically abundant natural gas,' said Bill Yardley, group vice president, Spectra Energy Transmission, Northeast. 'At a time when there is growing environmental need for cleaner power generation, this new infrastructure will deliver clean, affordable and much-needed energy to Ohio, the Midwest and South.'
A binding open season for the OPEN project is planned for the first quarter 2012 with the projected in-service slated for November 2014.
Spectra Energy Corp
, a FORTUNE 500 company, is one of North America's premier natural gas infrastructure companies serving three key links in the natural gas value chain: gathering and processing, transmission and storage, and distribution. For more than a century, Spectra Energy and its predecessor companies have developed critically important pipelines and related infrastructure connecting natural gas supply sources to premium markets. Based in Houston, Texas, the company's operations in the United States and Canada include more than 19,000 miles of transmission pipeline, over 305 billion cubic feet of storage, as well as natural gas gathering and processing, natural gas liquids operations and local distribution assets. The company also has a 50 percent ownership in DCP Midstream, one of the largest natural gas gatherers and processors in the United States. Spectra Energy is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America Indexes and the U.S. S&P 500 Carbon Disclosure Project's Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index. For more information, visit www.spectraenergy.com.American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP's transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP's headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation is the second-largest producer of natural gas, a Top 15 producer of oil and natural gas liquids and the most active driller of new wells in the U.S. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the company's operations are focused on discovering and developing unconventional natural gas and oil fields onshore in the U.S. Chesapeake owns leading positions in the Barnett, Haynesville, Bossier, Marcellus and Pearsall natural gas shale plays and in the Granite Wash, Cleveland, Tonkawa, Mississippi Lime, Bone Spring, Avalon, Wolfcamp, Wolfberry, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Three Forks/Bakken and Utica unconventional liquids plays. The company has also vertically integrated its operations and owns substantial midstream, compression, drilling, trucking, pressure pumping and other oilfield service assets directly and indirectly through its subsidiaries Chesapeake Midstream Development, L.P. and Chesapeake Oilfield Services, L.L.C. and its affiliate Chesapeake Midstream Partners, L.P.
. Chesapeake's stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CHK. Further information is available at www.chk.com where Chesapeake routinely posts announcements, updates, events, investor information, presentations and news releases.Spectra Energy Corp
CONTACT: Media, Wendy Olson, +1-713-627-4072, or +1-713-627-4747 (24-hour
media line); or Analysts, John Arensdorf, +1-713-627-4600
Web site: http://www.spectraenergy.com/
