Empire Connector

From Wikimarcellus

The Empire Connector is a natural gas pipeline owned and operated by Empire Pipeline Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Fuel Gas Co..

Forming the vertical leg of a letter "T", it connects the Empire State Pipeline that goes from a point of interconnection with the TransCanada Pipeline near Buffalo, New York east to Syracuse, NY thus forming the top bar of the "T", to the Millennium Pipeline project to the south making its connection to the Millennium Pipeline at Corning, NY:

E  M  P  I  R  E     S  T  A  T  E     P  I  P  E  L  I  N  E
|------------------------- 157 miles -----------------------|
Buffalo (west)---------Rochester--------------Syracuse (east)
 -TransCanada Pipeline-     |                    ( * )
     ( * )                  |
                            | EMPIRE CONNECTOR (76 mi.)
                            | (south)
                            |       
                          ( * )
                     Quackenbush Hill
             Compressor Station at Corning, NY
          (interconnection with Millennium Pipeline)
                            |
                        (Caton, NY)
                            |
                         
                   Pipeline | Extension (Complete Fall, 2011)
                          
                            |
                          ( * )
            Northwest corner Tioga County, PA
                         (south)

The Empire Connector is a 24” high-pressure pipeline that went into service around the end of 2008. It crosses the 76 miles south from Rochester, NY to Corning, NY where the natural gas empties into the Millennium pipeline. Gas heads east through the Millennium pipeline and reaches as far as the metro areas of New York City and Boston. The Empire Connector has a rated capacity in excess of 750 MMcf/day.

A press release appeared in October, 2009 stating that Empire Pipeline planned to build a 16 mile extension of the Empire Connector to the northwest corner of Tioga County, Pennsylvania. It was to transport natural gas from the Marcellus shale and Trenton-Black River formations abundant in that region. At the time, Empire Pipeline was still in the planning phases completing engineering and environmental studies as well as obtaining necessary federal approvals. Construction was to begin in the spring of 2011 with completion slated for the fall of that year.

• Donna DeCarolis is an Empire Pipeline spokeswoman.