SALEM, Ohio — The Bluegrass Pipeline project that was slated to develop a pipeline through Ohio and western Pennsylvania has been suspended.

It had been announced in May 2013, only to be suspended not quite a year later.

15 Ohio counties

The project was planned to go through Brown, Highland, Fayette, Pickaway, Fairfield, Perry, Guernsey, Noble, Monroe, Harrison, Carroll, Columbiana, Muskingum and Mahoning counties. In addition, the line would have extended into Lawrence and Mercer counties, in Pennsylvania, and Marshall County in West Virginia.

The pipeline was originally designed to transport natural gas liquids such as ethane, butane and propane directly from processing plants in the Utica and Marcellus shale to Louisiana.

The pipeline would have connected to a pipeline in Kentucky that travels to Texas, plus a link to a Louisiana line. The pipeline was supposed to go into service in 2015 and have the capacity of between 200,000 and 400,000 barrels a day of natural gas liquids.

Partners

Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, two energy infrastructure companies, are partners in the effort to develop the Bluegrass Pipeline.

Although the project has been suspended, it could be revamped if the companies acquire firm contractual commitments.

Additional investment

According to a news release, the project reached a point in the development of the project where important decisions about timing and additional investment needed to be made.

Officials said while data shows there will soon be a need for a large-scale solution like Bluegrass Pipeline, potential customers have so far chosen to focus on local solutions.

As a result, investors are continuing to pursue support for the project, but are not investing additional capital at this time.

Project creation

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, by 2016, production of natural gas liquids from the Marcellus and Utica shale areas is expected to reach at least 650,000 barrels per day (bpd), marking an all-time high for U.S. natural gas liquid production records.

The need to move natural gas liquids from the liquids-rich natural gas production in the Utica and Marcellus shale plays to markets is an important component of that production development.