Duke Energy Corp. is returning to the pipeline business as the
co-owner of a new $5 billion natural-gas line that will run from
West Virginia to the southeast corner of North Carolina.
The electricity giant spun off its natural-gas division as
Spectra Energy Corp. in 2007. But Duke now needs a steady supply of
natural gas, especially for customers in eastern North Carolina it
gained by its 2012 merger with Progress Energy Inc., said Lynn
Good, chief executive of Duke, which is based in Charlotte,
N.C.
The 550-mile pipeline will help Duke move away from its
dependence on coal, which represents about 40% of its energy mix
today, she said. The company is retiring some of its coal plants
and is on track for its mix to be roughly split among natural gas,
coal and nuclear by next year, she added.
Duke said Tuesday the pipeline will be built by Dominion
Resources Inc., which is based in Richmond, Va., and is among the
nation's largest transporters of energy. Construction could begin
as soon as 2016 with the pipeline coming online by winter 2018,
said Thomas Farrell, Dominion's chief executive.
Dominion will own 45% of the pipeline and Duke will own 40%. The
other partners are Piedmont Natural Gas Co., also of Charlotte,
with 10%, and AGL Resources Inc., an Atlanta-based energy holding
company, which will own 5%. Duke and Piedmont said in April that
they were exploring a pipeline project.
The pipeline will be 20 inches in diameter in a lateral
extension in Hampton Roads, Va., and range from 36 to 42 inches in
diameter along the main pipeline from the Marcellus and Utica shale
basins in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania south along the East
Coast. It will roughly follow alongside Interstate 95 in eastern
North Carolina, traversing some of the state's poorest counties and
bringing construction jobs and other investment, Ms. Good said.
Pipeline construction commonly meets with opposition from
landowners and others. Dominion is holding public meetings this
month on site selection and said it has permission to conduct
surveys from two-thirds of the homeowners who might be
affected.
Write to Valerie Bauerlein at valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com
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