Rockies Express Pipeline LLC said Monday that service has begun on a portion of a major pipeline that carries natural gas from the Rocky Mountain region to markets in the eastern U.S.

The segment of the Rockies Express-East pipeline brings up to 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas a day from Audrain County, Mo., to the Lebanon interconnection point in Warren County, Ohio.

Rockies Express Pipeline LLC is a joint venture between Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP), Sempra Energy (SRE) unit Sempra Pipelines and Storage, and ConocoPhillips (COP).

Natural gas production in the Rockies has grown over the past few years, but there are few pipelines available to bring the gas to major gas-consuming regions in the U.S. East. The Rockies Express East is designed to alleviate that bottleneck, although gas demand has declined during the economic downturn.

The final portion of the Rockies Express East pipeline, which will end in Clarington, Ohio, is expected to be in service by Nov. 1. When completed, the 1,679-mile pipeline will have a capacity of 1.8 bcf/day, most of which is under long-term contracts.

-By Christine Buurma, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2061; christine.buurma@dowjones.com

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