Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP) has received a long-term transportation agreement from Nova Chemicals Corp. to transport ethane and ethane-propane mixtures from the prolific Utica Shale area through its previously announced Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access (UTOPIA) project, which is currently in a binding open season that began Sept. 5, 2014, and will close on Oct. 6, 2014.

As part of 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. UTOPIA would have an initial 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of capacity, which is expandable to more than 75,000 bpd. The approximately $500 million pipeline project is expected to be in service by early 2018 with the receipt of timely permitting and regulatory approvals.

KMP is based in Houston.