RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 28, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dominion (NYSE: D) today announced that it has requested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission pre-filing process for its proposed Appalachian Gateway Project, which is designed to transport natural gas produced in West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania to storage fields and pipelines in Pennsylvania.

"Marcellus Shale and traditional production have increased the natural gas available from the Appalachian Basin," said Gary Sypolt, chief executive officer of Dominion Energy. "The Appalachian Gateway Project will lessen the bottleneck currently preventing some of the natural gas produced in West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania from getting to customers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic who are in need of new supplies."

Sypolt said the project is fully subscribed by Marcellus Shale and other Appalachian natural gas producers. The total firm transportation delivery from the project is 484,260 dekatherms of natural gas per day.

The approximate cost for facilities in the FERC request is $600 million. Plans are for construction to begin in 2011 and to be in-service in 2012.

Four new natural gas compressor stations would be constructed and upgrades would be made at two existing compressor stations, adding about 17,000 horsepower of compression to Dominion's system. About 110 miles of new pipeline would be built, beginning in West Virginia and terminating at Dominion and Spectra's jointly owned Oakford facility in Delmont, Pa., east of Pittsburgh.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of more than 27,500 megawatts of generation, 1.1 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves, 14,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline and 6,000 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion operates the nation's largest natural gas storage system with 975 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in 12 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dom.com/.

SOURCE Dominion

SOURCE: Dominion

Web site: http://www.dom.com/