Shale gas development in the Utica should pick up once the two proposed natural gas pipelines are complete. One of the biggest hurdles for Utica shale development has been the lack of infrastructure to support the distribution of natural gas and oil.

According to Dayton Daily News, the ATEX Express Pipeline will begin construction in April. The pipeline will cross some 265 miles across 13 Ohio counties. The total length of the pipeline is 1,200 miles. It will stretch from Pennsylvania to Texas.

Enterprise says the pipeline will give a boost to local economies, but some residents are not happy with the construction. Lawsuits were filed to enforce compliance with the law.

Read it:

“To make way for the pipeline, company representatives negotiate construction access and purchase permanent easements, and file lawsuits to enforce compliance with laws that grant the company eminent domain powers usually reserved for public projects.”

Another gas pipeline in the works

The ATEX Express Pipeline isn’t the only natural gas pipeline coming to Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Houston-based Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP and Tulsa, Okla.-based The Williams Companies Inc. Are looking to develop a Marcellus and Utica pipeline as well, according to the Houston Business Journal.

Read it:

“The companies signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture to develop the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline. It would transport between 200,000 and 400,000 barrels per day of mixed NGLs from Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to proposed new fractionation and storage facilities, which would connect to petrochemical and product pipelines in Louisiana and Texas.”

» Via: The Dayton Daily News› Underground pipeline coming through Ohio

» Via: The Houston Business Journal› Boardwalk, Williams to partner on NGL pipeline project