<div id="readability-page-1"><div><p><span>(Platts)--18Dec2025/219 pm EST/1919 GMT     (Adds details, comments )     **Boosts capacity to 550,000 Dth/d, shortens route     **Project would serve Duke Energy Carolinas, PSNC     The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted unanimously Dec. 18 to approve Mountain Valley Pipeline's updated version of its Southgate natural gas pipeline extension off the MVP mainline into North Carolina.     The 550,000 Dth/d, 31.3-mile project, would extend from the mainline Mountain Valley terminus in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, to new delivery points in Rockingham County, North Carolina.     The approximately $524 million project would help ease Appalachian takeaway constraints and would serve Duke Energy Carolinas and Public Service Co. of North Carolina, which have precedent agreements for a combined total of 550,000 Dt/d of firm capacity over 20 years.     FERC Chairman Laura Swett called the amendment &#34;a great story of efficiency.&#34;     &#34;The project is going to provide 175,000 Dth/d more capacity, at less than half the length and with substantially fewer water crossings and fewer environmental impacts than the original plan,&#34; Swett said during FERC's open meeting Dec. 18.     The previously approved project, which would have run 75 miles and provided 375,000 Dth/d of gas transportation capacity, encountered permitting obstacles in North Carolina while the longer mainline was delayed amid litigation.          MARKET IMPACTS     Olivia Arcuri, an analyst with S&amp;P Global Energy CERA, said FERC's approval of the amendment advances one of the key projects aimed at easing Appalachian takeaway constraints later in the decade.     &#34;Along with Transco's Southeast Supply Enhancement, MVP Southgate adds meaningful production-enabling capacity out of the Northeast, strengthening connectivity to fast-growing Southeast demand markets,&#34; Arcuri said. When the two projects start service in 2028, adding about 1.2 Bcf/d of production enabling capacity, Appalachian production-point basis discounts are expected to narrow temporarily, she said.     &#34;That tightening is likely to be short-lived, however, as production quickly fills the available capacity given the elevated expected demand needs, and discounts return to more typical levels by the end of the 2028 summer injection,&#34; Arcuri said.     Southgate is also expected to bring some relief to the Transco Zone 5 South basis levels, particularly during summer months, she added.     Transco Zone 5 South spreads to Henry Hub tend to widen during the winter months. Its basis premium averaged 36 cents/MMBtu during Summer 2025, and $1.63/MMBtu during winter 2024-25, according to data from Platts, part of S&amp;P Global Energy.          PROJECT TIMELINE     Southgate spokesperson Shawn Day welcomed the FERC approval and said that construction is targeted to start in 2026, with the developer aiming for in-service in 2028.     &#34;We look forward to securing all necessary authorizations to build this important project to provide homes and businesses across North Carolina with the affordable, reliable and lower-carbon energy needed to power modern life,&#34; Day said in an email Dec. 18.     Aside from the FERC authorization, Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality is reviewing a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certificate for the project, and a US Army Corps of Engineers CWA Section 404 permit is pending. North Carolina granted its Section 401 water quality certificate in November.     Construction is also contingent on FERC completing Endangered Species Act consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service, FERC's order said.     Environmental groups continue to oppose the project, contending it will harm local waterways and communities.     &#34;The project necessitated at the very least an environmental impact statement,&#34; Jessica Sims, a field coordinator for Appalachian Voices, said in a statement. &#34;Ideally, this totally revamped project should require a new application to fully consider its impacts. FERC required neither and has failed impacted communities in its Southgate decision.&#34;     Multiple conservation groups had pressed FERC for further study of the cumulative impacts when the parallel proposed Williams pipeline is taken into account, and said FERC fell short in weighing new information since its 2019 environmental impact statement for Southgate.     In its order (CP25-60), FERC said it scaled its analysis to the scope of the amendment, since the project follows the same route and is largely within the same footprint as the Southgate project FERC originally approved in 2020.     &#34;The changes proposed by Mountain Valley will not cause significant increased impacts and, overall, the amendment project will result in fewer environmental impacts than the originally certificated project,&#34; the order said.     Faced with comments questioning the need for the project, FERC said the utility companies' precedent agreements for an expansion project's entire capacity support a finding of project need.     FERC also said allegations that the project was not needed because Transco's SSE Project could handle the volumes are &#34;not persuasive.&#34; FERC added that it does not look behind contracts to assess shippers' business decisions.     &#34;Had the shippers wanted to contract for capacity (or in the case of Duke Energy, additional capacity ) on the Transco line, they could have done so,&#34; the commission said.     In a change from its initial approval of Southgate, FERC said a 14% return on equity is no longer appropriate, because the project is more like an expansion project than a riskier greenfield project, now that the mainline is in service. FERC required Mountain Valley to use an ROE of 11.25% for the project and revise its rates accordingly.     — Maya Weber, maya.weber@spglobal.com; Killian Staines, killian.staines@spglobal.com-- Edited by Meghan Gordon, newsdesk@spglobal.com--Platts Electricity Alert--</span></p></div></div>

<p>The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the updated Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate extension, boosting capacity to 550,000 Dth/d and shortening the route. The $524 million project will serve Duke Energy Carolinas and PSNC, easing Appalachian takeaway constraints. Construction is set to start in 2026, with service beginning in 2028. Environmental groups oppose the project, citing potential harm to local waterways and communities. FERC stated the project will have fewer environmental impacts than the original plan.</p>

PLATTS: 100--UPDATE: US FERC approves modified Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate gas pipe extension