Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP) has announced the launch of a binding open season to solicit commitments for the previously announced Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access (UTOPIA) project, which will provide opportunities to transport ethane and ethane-propane mixtures from the prolific Utica Shale area.

Under the UTOPIA project, Kinder Morgan Cochin will develop, construct, own and operate a 240-mile, 12-inch diameter pipeline from Harrison County, Ohio, to Kinder Morgan’s Cochin Pipeline near Riga, Mich., where the company would then move product eastward to Windsor, Ontario, Canada. UTOPIA would transport previously refined or fractionated natural gas liquids (NGLs), including ethane and propane, with an initial 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of capacity, which is expandable to more than 75,000 bpd. Pending a successful open season and timely receipt of necessary permitting and regulatory approvals, the new pipeline is expected to be in service by early 2018.

Kinder Morgan is based in Houston.