Equitrans sees Mountain Valley Pipeline cost increase
Equitrans Midstream said April 30 it expects to complete construction and final commissioning of its Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) “on or about” May 31 and put the cost of the troubled project at about $7.85bn, up from February estimates in the $7.57bn-$7.63bn range.
“As part of the regulatory process, on April 22, 2024, Mountain Valley Pipeline filed a formal request for authorisation from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to place the MVP project into service following the mechanical completion of all project facilities,” said Equitrans Midstream CEA Diana Charletta said. “We are pleased to be so close to completing this critical infrastructure project.”
Equitrans filed its application for MVP with FERC in October 2017 and received a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the pipeline two years later, at which time the project’s cost was estimated at $3.5bn and its completion was expected in Q4 2019.
A series of court challenges has plagued the project since its FERC approval, delaying construction by several years and pushing costs steadily higher, to $4.6bn in September 2018, $5.3bn-$5.5bn in October 2019, $5.8bn-$6bn in late 2021 and to $6.6bn in Q3 2022, when it expected completion by the second half of 2023.
In February 2023, US President Joe Biden signed an order approving all permits and authorisations required to complete the project and directed federal agencies, including FERC, to maintain those authorisations.
In a project update provided as part of its Q1 2024 results, Equitrans said less than a mile of pipe along MVP’s 304-mile right-of-way was left to be installed and all waterbody and wetland crossings had been completed. About 269 miles of pipe had been hydrotested, with 35 miles left to test and 77 miles of pipe through to MVP’s second compressor station had been purged and packed.
For Q1, Equitrans reported net income of $111.9mn, up from $106.1mn in Q1 2023, while adjusted EBITDA declined to $271.8mn from $299.6mn.
Gathered volumes in Q1 were down about 9.7% year-over-year, Equitrans said, reflecting about 1bn ft3/day of gross production curtailments announced by EQT in March. EQT has said those curtailments will continue through May and said they could extend even further, depending on market conditions.